PINK NEWS: The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has made his first public statement on the proposed anti-gay bill passing through Uganda's parliament.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, presumably taken before reports that Uganda would remove the most drastic elements of the bill, Williams said he did not see how any Anglican could support it.
He said: "Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades.
“Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to turn pastors into informers.”
He added that the Anglican Church in Uganda opposes the death penalty but added that its archbishop, Henry Orombi, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last year, “has not taken a position on this bill”.
The private members' bill originally sought to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on those who have gay sex. After it was condemned by countries such as the UK, US and France, along with human rights groups, the country's minister for ethics and integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, reportedly said a more "refined" set of punishments would be favoured instead of execution. >>> Staff Writer, Pink News | Monday, December 14, 2009
ADVOCATE.COM: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out the Administration's vision for human rights in a wide-ranging speech Monday at Georgetown University and specifically referenced the antigay Uganda bill that would carry a death sentence for committing certain acts of homosexuality.
"We cannot separate our democracy, human rights, and development agendas," Clinton said, "they are mutually reinforcing and united in service of a common purpose - to create a world where all people have the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential."
In reference to Uganda, Clinton said, "Governments should be expected to resist the temptation to restrict freedom of expression when criticism arises, and be vigilant in preventing law from becoming an instrument of oppression, as bills like the one under consideration in Uganda to criminalize homosexuality would do. " >>> Advocate.com Editors | Monday, December 14, 2009
