Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill is horrible. Do something, Commonwealth.

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

By this time we’ve all seen the footage of Adam Lambert’s performance at Sunday’s AMAs and taken stock of how we feel about the homosexual references and that make-out session. And maybe we even have an opinion on the subsequent cancelling of his appearance on Good Morning America (me: Huh?). But while over a thousand people took the time to call in and whine about Glambert’s performance, at least those calls didn’t land him on death row, or lead to the arrest of those of us who saw it and didn’t call.

Not so in Uganda, if a proposed bill has anything to say about it.

From Maclean’s:

Uganda has tabled legislation that would level capital punishment on anyone convicted of what it calls “aggravated homosexuality.” … The bill—which states that homosexuality is “preventable, especially among young people who are most vulnerable to recruitment”—would punish offenders with at least five years in prison, plus fines of 100 million Ugandan shillings ($54,500), for anyone who “attempts to legitimize or in any way abets homosexuality and related practices.” A similar sentence awaits Ugandans convicted of failing to report homosexual offences within 24 hours…

There’s more, if you can believe it. (And you probably can.)

From the Globe and Mail:

Human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned the bill. They say it is a product of a campaign by evangelical churches and anti-gay groups that has led to death threats and physical assaults against Ugandans suspected of being gay.

[...]

The law would impose a sentence of life imprisonment on anyone who “penetrates the anus or mouth of another person of the same sex with his penis or any other sexual contraption.” The same penalty would apply if he or she even “touches another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”

…It allows for the prosecution of Ugandans who engage in homosexual acts in foreign countries. And it imposes a prison sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.

Yikes.

Given that police in Uganda – according to Amnesty International – currently “arbitrarily arrest and detain men and women accused of engaging in consensual sex with someone of the same sex,” the new proposal might not be surprising, but that hardly makes it any less disgusting. And the scope of the proposed bill’s witch hunt qualities is frightening.

It makes the upcoming summit of Commonwealth nations in Trinidad and Tobago all the more important. The meeting will be chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has yet to oppose the bill. Surely the Commonwealth can do better.

The bill has already been openly condemned by many Western leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesman, Dmitri Soudas said that Canada urges, “states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention.” Given this statement and the fairly liberal stance that some Commonwealth nations have about homosexuality, the summit might get a little tense.

Let’s hope it does.