David Bahati, the Ugandan parliament member who authored the bill that calls for the execution of gay people, told Rachel Maddow that he intends to protect children from being recruited into homosexuality, but he could not produce any facts.
Bahati, who spoke from Washington, D.C., said he had been granted a visa to attend a conference in the United States, but the event denied him entry over his bill. The bill, which is still pending in parliament, would impose life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death penalty for instances of "aggravated homosexuality."
Maddow asked him about the part of the bill that has prompted international outcry.
"I know there has been a lot of spin, negative propaganda about this bill, using that clause and I wanted to make the record straight," he said. "I am not in a hate campaign. I do not hate gays. I love them but at same time, I must protect our children who are being recruited into this practice."
Pressed for facts about what Maddow called the "foundational myth" of gay recruitment, Bahati could not defend his assertion.
"It is something that is factual and all you need is to get these facts," he said.
Watch the interview in two parts.
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