Uganda may modify antigay bill

KAMPALA, Uganda - Gay Ugandans probably won't face the death penalty after the country's president said he opposed the provision in proposed legislation, but an international gay-rights group said yesterday that even a watered-down bill would be repressive.

President Yoweri Museveni has told colleagues he thinks the bill is too harsh and has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death-sentence provision, which would apply to sexually active gays living with HIV, or in cases of same-sex rape, according to a copy of the draft law.

The proposed bill, though, says that anyone convicted of a homosexual act - including touching someone of the same sex with the intent of committing a homosexual act - would face life in prison. It is unclear whether Museveni supports that provision.

Gay-rights activists say the bill, introduced last fall, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the conservative East African country. Protests have been held in London, New York, and Washington.

Peter Tatchell, a gay-rights activist based in London, said that even if the death penalty were removed from the bill, it would still contradict several major international conventions on human rights, which could lead donors to reduce their aid to Uganda.

The new bill, he said, builds on Uganda's bans on homosexuality by including Ugandans living abroad and by expanding the definition of homosexual acts to include touching. The draft law says Ugandans abroad can be extradited and punished.

James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's minister of state for ethics and integrity, suggested scrapping the death penalty in favor of counseling.

"The president doesn't believe in killing gays," he said. "I also don't believe in it. I think gays can be counseled and they stop the bad habit."

Ruling-party spokeswoman Mary Karoro Okurut said she agreed with the president that some punishments in the bill should be dropped. She said she would still push for a modified version of the bill when it goes to parliament in late February or early March.

Homosexuality "is not allowed in African culture," she said. "We have to protect the children in schools who are being recruited into homosexual activities."

Frank Mugisha, leader of Sex Minorities Uganda, said the gay-rights group would campaign for and support Museveni in the 2011 polls because of his opposition to the bill's harsher provisions.

"If one scratches your back, you also scratch his back," Mugisha said.