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WATCH: Uganda Parliament Speaker Pushes for Vote on 'Kill The Gays' Bill

WATCH: Uganda Parliament Speaker Pushes for Vote on 'Kill The Gays' Bill

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Upon returning from an international conference, Uganda's Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kagada, called for a parliamentary vote on the country's "Anti-Homosexuality Bill."

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Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda's Speaker of Parliament, on Tuesday said she not only supports the Uganda's "Anti-Homosexuality Bill," but also wants to see the legislation voted on by the East African nation's Parliament, according to ThinkProgress.

Speaking to a crowd gathered at Entebbe airport to celebrate her return from the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Quebec, Canda, Kagada said that she is willing to sacrifice foreign aid to affirm Uganda's position against homosexuality.

"If the price of aid is going to be the promotion of homosexuality in this country," Kadaga told supporters, "I think we don't want that aid."

"I will not accept to be intimidated or to be directed by any government in the world because we are independent," Kadaga told the crowd. "I will now instruct the chair of the Committee of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to quickly bring the report of the anti-homosexuality bill so that we can discuss it and so that Uganda can take a position."

Sodomy is already illegal in the country and punishable by up to 14 years in prison, but the so-called Kill the Gays bill, sponsored by MP David Bahati and languishing in parliament since international outcry tabled the discussion last year, would penalize "aggravated homosexuality"-- consensual same-sex acts committed by "repeat offenders," anyone who is in a position of power, is HIV-positive, or uses intoxicating agents in the process -- with capital punishment. The lesser "offense of homosexuality," also criminalized in the bill, encompasses anyone who engages in a same-sex sexual relationship, enters into a same-sex marriage, or conspires to commit "aggravated homosexuality."

The "Kill the Gays" bill was first introduced in 2009, and several Western nations, including the United Kingdom and Canada, threatened to revoke foreign aid to the East African nation.

Watch a report on Kadaga's statements from African news channel NTV below.

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Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.
Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.