Tag: anti-homosexuality bill 2009

Committee chair says Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill may not be considered

Stephen Tashobya, the Chair of the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee in Uganda’s Parliament told me yesterday that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill may not be considered during this sesssion of Parliament.

By phone, Tashobya told me that the committee still has many important bills to get through and when asked about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, said, “I am not sure if we will get to that one now.”

He did not know when Parliament would be called back to session but felt it would be next week at the earliest. He said he would know more at that time but was now uncertain that there would be time to move the Anti-Homosexuality Bill given the number of other bills to be considered.

This disclosure stands in contrast to Hon. Tashobya’s earlier prediction that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would be considered very soon after the elections.

For additional posts on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, click the link.

Note: For the record, Tashobya, nor I, said the bill has been shelved, if by shelved one means it is no longer possible to bring it up before the end of Parliament’s current session in May. While his statements indeed represent a positive development, it is premature to make a final conclusion based on a couple of sentences from the committee chair. I will have a follow up with Tashobya in a couple of weeks. Then, I think we will know more certainly where things are.

Florida abstinence group has ties to Martin Ssempa

Andy Kopsa, writing for the Florida Independent, has a story out that links Project SOS to Martin Ssempa.

Project SOS, a Jacksonvile-based abstinence education program, has received more than $6.5 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since 2002 — including $454,000 in September 2010. This despite the fact that the group has been cited for teaching false information about HIV and is a supporter of Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa, one of the most outspoken advocates of legislation in that country that prescribes the death penalty for homosexuals.

Project SOS’ federal funding came through the Administration of Children and Families, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, via grants for Community Based Abstinence Education and a Healthy Marriage Demonstration grant. The abstinence education funding is made available through Title V (.pdf) of the Social Security Act. A provision of Title V requires that states provide a $3 match for every $4 in federal money.

Kopsa asked Director Pam Mullarkey about Ssempa’s support for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill:

In a phone interview with The Florida Independent, Mullarkey said she was unaware of any controversy surrounding Ssempa or his support of the so-called “Kill the Gays” bill. 

The Independent provided Mullarkey with numerous links to news articles and YouTube clips, including video of Ssempa calling for the death penalty for homosexuals (whom he refers to as “pedophiles”) while claiming to ABC News that homosexuals eat feces. 

“I know Martin well enough to know that because of his Christian faith he would never support the death penalty,” Mullarkey said when asked about Ssempa’s support of a bill that would punish “aggravated homosexuality” with death.

Mullarkey went on to praise Ssempa as a “change agent” who took a stand for abstinence education as a way to rid Uganda of HIV/AIDS. “At the university, Martin took a stand — he had them burning condoms as a commitment to abstinence,” she said. 

Discussing the fact that Ssempa lost “almost half his family” to AIDS, Mullarkey told the Independent that homosexuals in Africa “have destroyed people’s lives.”

Mullarkey would not denounce Ssempa’s actions surrounding the anti-gay bill. She later told the Independent she emailed Ssempa and is “waiting for his response” before she “will make a statement” on the issue.

Anti-Homosexuality Bill to be debated in March?

So says the website of the Rolling Stone (UG).

Anti-Gay Bill To Be Tabled In March

BY CLIFF ABENAITWE

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill will be tabled in March if all goes

according to plan.

Authored by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati, the proposed legislation will be discussed as soon as the new Parliament is sworn in.

Bahati sidesteps questions about threats to BBC reporter

Last week, BBC reporter Scott Mills said he felt threatened by Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill author, David Bahati. Mills interviewed Bahati in Uganda for the program, The World’s Worst Places to be Gay. After the interview, Mills says he revealed his gay orienation to Bahati and then according to Mills:

The 36-year-old was filming a show called The World’s Worst Place to be Gay? (on BBC3, of course), when he confessed his sexual orientation to British-educated politician David Bahati – who Scott said “went mental”.

He explained: “He was scary. He ordered us to cut the cameras then brought a security guard.

“We ran off and he rang one of our guys saying, ‘Where are they staying? What are the registration plates? I want them arrested. They won’t get far’.”

Fortunately Scott’s colleague lied about their location, and armed police arrived at the Sheraton – where they had been falsely told the team were staying.

The DJ continued: “I’d heard horror stories about people getting arrested and roughed up and who knows what. I was scared.”

I wrote David Bahati and asked for his version of the events and he sent back the following message:

…the most important thing to me at the moment is to ensure that my president and party win elections on 18th feb but not to engage in immaterial issues of a journalist trying to make ends meet.

In this interview (click the link), Bahati says he would not have done the interview for the documentary if he knew Mills was gay.

On one other occasion, MP Bahati scared a gay BBC journalist who was filming a documentary. While I cannot reveal the identity of the journalist, I have independent confirmation of the fact that Bahati considered police intervention when a reporter revealed his sexual orientation.

Here is a brief clip of Mills with Solomon Male.

 

And then his witchdoctor treatment:

As Bahati noted, Ugandan elections are this coming Friday. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is one of many bills slated to be considered after the elections.

Bahati “more than confident” bill will pass

As quoted in todays’s Monitor, Ugandan MP David Bahati says not to mix religion and politics but then does so by saying this:

Qn: Of late you have been silent about the Anti -Homosexuality Bill; did the incidents in the US where you were barred from attending a conference scare you?

The Bill is within the responsible committee of Parliament. We have been assured that it will be considered before May; before the expiry of this Parliament. The events in the USA surely exposed the kind of intorelence that is inconsistent with the book values of American People and strengthened me and the Ugandan people in our defence of the children and the family. This Bill provides a God given opportunity for Uganda to provide leadership on this issue and Iam more than confident that it will pass.