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| Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has signed off a bill introducing anti-gay laws. |
Uganda's president has signed a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual sex, saying the bill is necessary because "arrogant and careless western groups" had tried to "recruit" Ugandan children into homosexuality.
President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill at his official residence in an event witnessed by government officials, journalists and a team of Ugandan scientists. The scientists had produced a report saying there was no genetic basis for homosexuality which Museveni has cited as his reason for backing the bill.
"We Africans never seek to impose our view on others. If only they could let us alone," he said, talking of western pressure not to sign.
Government officials applauded after he signed the bill, which was influenced by the preachings of some conservative American evangelicals. In its original form the bill called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts. That was removed from the legislation following an international outcry.
The new law calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for a category of offences called "aggravated homosexuality," defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults as well as acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV. » | AP in Entebbe | Monday, February 24, 2014
