Uganda president condemns anti-gay law, says 'abnormal' people should not be killed
Uganda’s president says he opposes an anti-homosexuality bill passed by MPs and that “abnormal” people should not be jailed or killed.
In a letter to the speaker of parliament, President Yoweri Museveni said homosexuals needed what he called economic rehabilitation, claiming some people become homosexual for “mercenary reasons”—they get recruited on account of financial inducements. He said this is a group that could be rescued and that many of the youth fell in this category.
He says parliament’s bill needs to be revised.
Details of the letter, written late last month after Uganda’s parliament passed an anti-gay law widely condemned by rights activists, were published today in Kampala’s Daily Monitor newspaper. Sarah Kagingo, a spokeswoman for the presidency, confirmed that Mr Museveni wrote the letter.
Frank Mugisha, a prominent Ugandan gay rights activist, said Mr Museveni’s characterisation of gays “creates more hatred” in a country where discrimination against homosexuals is already rampant.
He said there is “no celebration” over the president’s opposition to the bill.
