Uganda is facing international scrutiny again as legislators again consider an anti-homosexuality bill, according to AFP. If approved by Uganda's parliament, the bill would criminalize gay sex, public discussion of homosexuality and jail time for anyone renting property to a homosexual or for family members who fail to report an individual is gay of up to seven years.
Here are some facts regarding the returning controversy.
* MP David Bahati found a similar bill shelved until discussion for this year, according to a separate report from AFP. The bill had been tabled in 2009.
* The bill has wide support among Ugandans, the Associated Press reported, and is championed by Pentecostal clerics and lawmakers who haven't spoken against it. Some of those who oppose the bill have done so on grounds it is unenforceable. Uganda has anti-homosexuality bills, largely inherited from its time as a British colony.
* The original bill had provisions for a death sentence for same-sex rape and so-called "serial offenders."
* On the opposing side, the bill is widely reviled in European and American diplomatic circles. President Barack Obama has condemned the bill, and Sweden and Britain have said they will cut aid funding if it is passed.
* The International Business Times says the family Life Network, based in Uganda, actively lobbied for the introduction of the bill.
* Human rights organization Amnesty International slammed the reintroduced bill as a "grave assault on the human rights of all Ugandans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity," according to a statement in a news release from Deputy Africa Program Director Michelle Kagari. She said the bill would impact people far beyond those who were gay and lesbian in Uganda, and would have a smothering affect on civil society, health professionals, and community leaders.
* Human Rights Watch made mention of the anti-homosexual bill in its World Report 2012, saying it had "negative implications for human rights." Complaints from Human Rights Watch cut deeper in assessing Uganda's record for 2011, noting opposition politicians had been beaten, freedom of assembly had been strongly curtailed during the current administration, and military and police had killed nine people during demonstrations last year.
* Other rights issues noted by the group included problems with due process, arbitrary arrests, forced prison labor and President Yoweri Museveni's off-budget purchases including $740 million worth of fighter jets.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
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