death penalty

...now browsing by category

 

Uganda: President Urges Removal of Death Penalty Provision from Anti Gay Bill

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Gay Ugandans likely won’t face the death penalty after the president said he opposed the provision in proposed legislation, but an international gay rights group said Thursday even a watered-down bill would be repressive. President Yoweri Museveni has told colleagues he believes the bill is too harsh and has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision, which would apply to sexually active gays living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape according to a copy of the draft law.

The proposed bill, though, says anyone convicted of a homosexual act – which includes touching someone of the same sex with the intent of committing a homosexual act – would face life imprisonment. It is unclear whether Museveni supports that provision or not.

Gay rights activists say the bill, introduced in the fall of 2009, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the conservative East African country. Protests already have been held in London, New York and Washington.

Full Story from WRAL.com: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/6757695/

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, death penalty, gay rights, president, uganda | No Responses »

Uganda: Role of US Evangelicals in Gay Marriage Death Penalty Law

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks. The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

Full Story from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html?hp

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in conference, death penalty, Gay Marriage, gay rights, proposed bill, uganda, us evangelicals | No Responses »

GOP: It's OK to be Manhattan Declaration Anti Gay, Just Not Ugandan Death Bill Anti Gay

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

As reports emerge that Uganda’s president has promised to veto the “kill the gays” bill, five GOP Congressman have spoken out against the legistlation:

“Five Republican representatives – Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao – have written a letter to Ugandan President Yoweri Mouseveni pressing him to stop pending legislation that would severely criminalize homosexuality and sometimes impose the death penalty for homosexual acts. In the letter, which you can read in full here, the men say their religious faith requires them to oppose the legislation because it contradicts the ‘foundational Christian belief in the inherent dignity and worth of all men and women.’”

The letter invokes the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration: “As Members of Congress and as men of faith, we support the principles set forth in the declaration and are thankful for the principled position of these faith leaders on a host of issues, from the sanctity of life for the unborn and others, to religious freedom, to human dignity, to the belief that marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.”

Full Story from Towleroad.com: http://www.towleroad.com/2009/12/gop-reps-invoke-antigay-manhattan-declaration-in-condemnation-of-ugandan-kill-the-gays-bill.html

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, death penalty, gay rights, gop, manhattan declaration, republicans, uganda | No Responses »

Rwanda: Also Voting on Dealth Penalty for Some Gays

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

When I first saw the email heading, I thought it might be wrong. The human rights community has for some weeks now been focusing on a bill in Uganda–on which a vote is expected any day–to criminalize homosexuality. The Uganda bill, on which the White House only just released a statement of opposition, was introduced on October 14, 2009. The so-called “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” would:

Imprison for life anyone convicted of “the offense of homosexuality”;

Punish “aggravated homosexuality” – including repeat offenders, or anyone who is HIV positive and has gay sex – with the death penalty;

Forbid the “promotion of homosexuality,” and jail rights defenders who work on LGBT rights;

Imprison anyone for up to three years if they fail to report within 24 hours anyone they know who is lesbian, gay,or transgender, or who supports the human rights of LGBT persons.

Full Story from RH Reality Check: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/12/15/breaking-rwandan-parliament-vote-wednesday-criminalization-homosexuality

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, criminalization, death penalty, gay, homosexual, proposed law, rwanda | No Responses »

Uganda: Despite Reports, Death Penalty Still Part of Anti Gay Bill

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

“Learned behaviour can be unlearned,” said David Bahati. “You can’t tell me that people are born gays. It is foreign influence that is at work.” Bahati has just presented his anti-homosexuality bill 2009 to Uganda’s parliament. The bill, which will be debated within a fortnight and is expected to become law by February, will allow homosexuality to be punishable by death.

“Most people have misunderstood the bill,” Bahati told the Observer. “The section of the death penalty relates to defilement by an adult who is homosexual and this is consistent with the law on defilement which was passed in 2007. The whole intention is to prevent the recruitment of under-age children, which is going on in single-sex schools. We must stop the recruitment and secure the future of our children.”

There is wide support for Bahati’s law which, while being an extreme piece of anti-gay legislation, is not unique. As far as gay rights are concerned, it would appear that much of Africa is going backwards. Nigeria has a similar bill waiting to reach its statute books and already allows the death penalty for homosexuality in northern states, as does Sudan. Burundi criminalised homosexuality in April this year, joining 37 other African nations where gay sex is already illegal. Egypt and Mali are creeping towards criminalisation, using morality laws against same-sex couples.

Full Story from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/13/death-penalty-uganda-homosexuals

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, death penalty, gay, homosexual, uganda | No Responses »

Uganda: "The Family" Involved in Effort to Criminalize Gays, Push Death Penalty for Homosexual Behavior

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The C Street home housing the Christian power broker group The Family, where Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford sought refuge and advice — is also notable for its involvement in another realm of anti-gay legislation: Uganda’s bill criminalizing homosexuality.

We already noted the religious right-wing’s support of making Uganda a home base for homophobia, but now comes word that America’s own Christian politicos are backing President Yoweri Museveni’s campaign to make gay sex punishable by death.

As Jeff Sharlot, author of the expose The Family, tells it, the bill’s biggest supporter is a member of The Family. David Bahati, the lawmaker pushing for aggravated homosexuality crimes, “appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda.”

Full Story from Queerty: http://www.queerty.com/shock-john-ensign-mark-sanfords-religious-family-is-backing-ugandas-gay-hate-20091127/

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in anti gay bill, c street house, death penalty, homosexuality, the family, uganda | No Responses »

US Diplomat Condemns Proposed Uganda Anti Gay Law

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Diplomatic representatives from the USA and France are the latest to condemn a recently tabled anti-gay Bill in Uganda, which calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.

Humanitarian groups have called the legislation “appalling”. But there is deep concern about the number of religious figures inside and outside the country who have supported, condoned or failed to speak out on a measure which the US embassy in Kampala told news agency AFP yesterday (4 November 2009) “would mark a major setback in the promotion of human rights” if it became law.

“If adopted, a bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda,” the embassy’s public affairs officer Joann Lockard declared.

“We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention.”

Full Story from Spero News: http://www.speroforum.com/a/22116/US-diplomat-condemns-antigay-law-in-Uganda

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in anti gay, bill, death penalty, gay rights, homosexuality, uganda, us diplomat | No Responses »

US Christian Right Wing Pushing for Criminalization of Homosexuality in Uganda

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

On 14 October 2009 the Hon. David Bahati (MP, Ndorwa County West, Kabale) tabled a private-members bill before the Ugandan parliament titled the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’. When it was tabled, the Minister for Ethics and Integrity Dr James Nsaba Butoro made a strong statement in support of the bill and for the greater sanction of individuals and organisations supporting homosexuality.

The bill is aimed at increasing and expanding penalties for ‘homosexual acts’ and for all institutions (including NGOs, donors and private companies) who defend the rights of people who engage in sexual relations with people of the same gender. The bill also calls for Uganda to withdraw from all international treaties and conventions which support the rights of lesbians, gays and bisexuals, introduces extradition arrangements for Ugandan citizens who perform ‘homosexual acts’ abroad, and includes legal penalties for people who fail to report alleged homosexual acts or individuals and institutions that promote homosexuality or same-sex marriage to the authorities.

The death penalty is mandated for HIV-positive people who engage in sex with people of the same gender. The tabling of the bill has been accompanied by threats against any Ugandan media organisation that allows LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Ugandans to air their views or publish press statements.

Full Story from All Africa: http://allafrica.com/stories/200910161126.html

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in bill, christian, death penalty, gay rights, homosexuality, rightwing, uganda, usa | No Responses »