THE WORLD PROTESTS AGAINST UGANDA’S ANTIGAY BILL

By Simangele Mzizi (BTM intern)

AFRICA ABROAD – 11 December 2009: To mark the International Human Rights Day yesterday 10 December 2009, gay rights activists in London, San Francisco and Chicago protested to raise awareness against the proposed Anti Homosexual Bill that could see Ugandan homosexuals jailed for life or facing death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality.’

The protest came after Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) called for worldwide protests of solidarity opposing the Bill.

“With global awareness and pressure, we might be able to help our LGBTI Ugandan sisters and brothers pressure the government in Kampala to drop the legislation”, Peter Tatchell of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender human rights group OutRage! said.

Tatchell said the Bill, violates the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“Uganda is a signatory to both, these breaches of international humanitarian commitments undermine the right to privacy and to individual liberty, and thereby set a dangerous legal precedent which threatens the human rights of all Ugandans”, said Tatchell.

He added, “We are urging people in the UK to add their support to these protests, it is crucial that we raise global awareness of this disgraceful homophobic Bill passing through the Ugandan parliament.”

According to Michael Petrelis, Gay and Aids Human Rights advocate in charge of the San Francisco protest, the pending Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda is creating stigma and adding to the discrimination that gay Ugandans face everyday.

“Gay people in San Francisco must raise their voices and oppose the Bill, we must also exhibit strong solidarity with the Ugandan gay community”, he added.

According to the United Nations, this years theme, “Embrace diversity, end Discrimination”, targets individuals and groups that are vulnerable to attack and all those who are perceived as different.
Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in the UN website that the fight against discrimination remains a daily struggle for millions around the globe.
 “Discrimination lies at the root of many of the world’s most pressing human rights problems. No country is immune from this scourge. Eliminating discrimination is a duty of the highest order”, she said.
Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network said “We want to highlight the oppression of gays in Uganda, particularly by linking American gay hating Evangelicals to that oppression”, said
He added, “The so-called “religious right” has not only been instrumental in denying equal civil rights to all Americans, they have now exported their hate to Uganda, and other parts of Africa.”
 
African members and supporters of OutRage! who attended the marches and spoke were Davis Mac-Iyalla ,Nigerian gay Christian campaigner and co-founder of the Gay Activists Alliance International , Skye Chirape ,Zimbabwean lesbian activist, Topher Campbell of Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group and Rev Jide Macaulay, Nigerian pastor and LGBTI activist.

Protests took place in San Francisco at the United Nations Plaza, London, UK at the Ugandan High Commission in Trafalgar Square and Chicago’s Center on Halsted.

“I would like the activists over there [Uganda] to know we will not be silent as they face horrible government policies and hatred from Christians, after the action[protest], I hope the gay Ugandans find small comfort in our act of solidarity, and that other activists in other USA cities organize similar actions in the near future”, Pertrelis concluded.

International Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation in 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”