America Says It’s Upset Over Uganda’s ‘Death for Gays’ Bill. How Hard Will Officials Push?

Well isn’t this novel: American officials are denouncing Uganda’s move to possibly make homosexuality a crime that’s punishable by death.

Says the United States’ public affairs officer Joann Lockard at the Kampala, Uganda, embassy: “If adopted, a bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda. We urge states to take all necessary measures to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests, or detention.”

Not that Uganda is taking our advice. Ugandan Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo, who’s previously rebuffed international intervention on the matter, told reporters yesterday: “They have come to me in great numbers and we are discussing it diplomatically but we are also telling them to mind their own business. They have no mandate whatsoever to come and say: ‘Your values are wrong, mine are right.'” Read: Step off, Westerners.

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