Uganda 'should legalise gays'

2007-08-24 09:38

Kampala - Uganda should decriminalise homosexuality and its officials should stop making homophobic statements, say Human Rights.

The New York-based watchdog said: "In a country where homosexual conduct can be punished with life imprisonment, the Ugandan government's latest call for arrests based on sexual orientation is a grave threat to basic freedoms."

On Tuesday, at least 100 Christians and Muslim clerics had marched in the streets of Kampala to condemn what they said was a rise of homosexuality in the east African nation.

Juliana Cano Nieto, the watchdog's researcher on lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people, said: "Harassing rights defenders and silencing discussion of sexuality threatens more than freedom, they threaten life.

"If lesbians and gays can be punished simply for speaking up for their rights, the freedoms of all Ugandans are endangered."

At a rare press conference last week, the Sexual Minorities Groups in Uganda (SMUG) complained of police harrassment and demanded recognition, touching off a firestorm of condemnation.

Homosexuality was illegal across much of Africa.

- AFP