Uganda Church Leader Slams Bill Promotes Genocide

A prominent priest and member of the Ugandan Anglican Church has compared an "antihomosexuality bill" current before the country's parliament to genocide.

"I believe that this bill will be state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans," Canon Gideon Byamugisha told The Guardian.

The bill, proposed by David Bahati, a Ugandan politician and member of the Christian fundamentalist movement known as the Family, calls for death sentences for "repeat offenders" engaging in gay sex. Nongovernmental organizations working in the country could be forced to leave for the "promotion" of homosexuality, while individuals who do not report gays to the police could face prison sentences (see Joseph Galliano's Thursday op-ed in The Advocate on the bill).

"They [politicians] are exploiting the traditional and cultural abhorrence to same-sex relationships to their advantage," Byamugisha continued. "They know that if they criminalize homosexuals, homosexual tendencies and homosexual acts, they stand a better chance of winning votes from the majority of religious followers and leaders."