Ugandan rights activists challenge anti-gay law

Ugandan rights activists and politicians have filed a
legal challenge to overturn a tough anti-gay law
condemned by Western donors.
The law violated the rights of gay people and
subjected them to “cruel and inhuman punishment”,
they said.
Several cases of “violence and retaliation” have
been reported since President Yoweri Museveni
signed the law last month, the activists added.
Uganda is a deeply conservative society where
many people oppose gay rights.
However, some people are beginning to question
whether punishments proposed in the law are too
harsh, reports BBC Uganda correspondent Catherine
Byaruhanga.
It allows life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of
“aggravated homosexuality” and also criminalises
the “promotion of homosexuality”.
The Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and
Constitutional Law, which represents about 50
groups, filed the petition in the Constitutional Court,
asking for the law to be annulled.
Ruling party MP Fox Odoi, who is Museveni’s
former legal adviser, was among the lead
petitioners.
He broke ranks with his party by opposing the law
in parliament, and said he did not fear a backlash
from voters in the 2016 election, our reporter says.
“I don’t fear losing an election. There is only one
thing I fear – living in a society that has no room for
minorities. I will not live in a society that doesn’t
respect and protect people who are different from
the majority,” Odoi said.
Prominent Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda also
supported the court action.
“This Act not only represents an effort by the
executive and parliament to scapegoat an unpopular
minority for political gain, but we believe it also
violates the highest law of our country,” he said.
Some people known or suspected to be gay had
faced “violence and retaliation” since the law was
signed, the coalition said in a statement, the AFP
news agency reports.
It had documented 10 cases of arrests of people,
and at least three cases of landlords evicting
tenants, the coalition added.
Uganda’s authorities have defended the law, saying
President Museveni wanted “to demonstrate
Uganda’s independence in the face of Western
pressure and provocation”.
The World Bank has postponed a $90m (£54m) loan
to Uganda to improve its health services after the
law was approved.
Several European nations – including Denmark,
Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden – have cut
aid to Uganda to show their opposition to the law.
The sponsor of the law, MP David Bahati, insists
that homosexuality is a “behaviour that can be
learned and can be unlearned”.