Uganda’s Draconian Anti-Gay Law Spurs International Reactions

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill into law Monday that could impose a life sentence on people found guilty of having gay sex more than once. A list that collects responses to the law from all over the world can be found below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Washington Blade
Museveni said he sought “scientific opinions” on whether people were “born homosexual.”

BuzzFeed
The mouth is made for eating and kissing, and gay oral sex will give you worms: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday gave a detailed explanation of why he believed homosexuals should be jailed for life.

Agence France-Presse
“Homosexuals are actually mercenaries,” says Museveni, “They are heterosexual people but because of money they say they are homosexuals. … One of the cultures that we detest is oral sex. … The mouth is for eating not for sex. … You push the mouth there, you can come back with worms and they enter your stomach because that is a wrong address. …”

Daily Monitor
President Museveni’s full speech at the signing of the Anti-Homosexuality bill; “Since my original thesis that there may be people who are born homosexual has been disproved by science, then the homosexuals have lost the argument in Uganda. They should rehabilitate themselves and society should assist them to do so.”

Volkskrant
Netherlands cuts aid to Uganda.

Washington Blade
Obama administration to ‘review’ relationship with Uganda.

European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights
“The new law vastly expands the criminalisation of LGBTI individuals, and now forces parents, teachers and doctors to report LGBTI persons to authorities. … [T]he new law punishes persons keeping a house or rooms for the ‘purpose of homosexuality’ (i.e. landlords or parents of LGBTI persons) with a maximum of 7 years’ imprisonment.”

Human Rights Campaign
“We call on Secretary of State John Kerry to temporarily recall the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda in order to strengthen our nation’s engagement on this issue. A temporary recall will send one of the clearest signals possible that the United States will not tolerate such abuses to any person’s human rights. We condemn the work of anti-LGBT Americans who pressed for the passage of this law. While many now distance themselves from passage of this bill, their work in Uganda helped bolster support and create space for enactment of the legislation. They could soon have blood on their hands.”

The White House
Statement by the Press Secretary on Uganda: “Instead of standing on the side of freedom, justice, and equal rights for its people, today, regrettably, Ugandan President Museveni took Uganda a step backward by signing into law legislation criminalizing homosexuality…”

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