UGANDA: Churches Issue Joint Call For Passage Of "Kill The Gays" Bill

Uganda's "Anti-Homosexuality" bill, which still includes provisions for the death penalty, remains pending. And this week a coalition of Christian churches issued a call for its speedy passage.

Speaking after their recent annual conference organised by the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the bishops resolved that the parliamentary committee on Gender should be tasked to engage the House on the Bill which is now at committee level. “We also ask the Education committee to engage the Ministry of Education on the issue of incorporating a topic on human sexuality in the curricula of our schools and institutions of learning,” the resolutions signed by archbishops Henry Luke Orombi, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga and Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga, indicated. The clerics also appealed to all the churches in the country “to remain steadfast in opposing the phenomena of homosexuality, lesbianism and same-sex union”. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was proposed by Ndorwa West PM David Bahati and has become a subject of international discussion with most Western powers describing the Bill as barbaric.

The bill was first proposed in 2009 by Ugandan MP David Behati after visits from American evangelists such as Scott Lively.