Uganda’s Mugisha Vows To Continue Fight Against Anti-Gay Bill
“This bill won’t stop us. We will continue to fight until we are free of this legislation. We cannot have oppression forever.”
Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), as quoted in a Nov. 21 statement from AllOut.org, reacting to a renewed and expedited effort in the Ugandan Parliament to pass what would become one of the world’s harshest laws against LGBT people. The D.C.-based RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights also released a statement today, quoting Santiago A. Canton, director of RFK Partners for Human Rights at the RFK Center: “If Ugandan parliament passes this Bill into law, they will in effect have one of the most discriminatory legal regimes in the world for sexual minorities. Uganda already has anti-gay laws in its penal code left over from British colonial rule that provide legal cover for the harassment of its LGBTI people. With this additional legislation, LGBTI people could face increased levels of physical and sexual abuse, intimidation and harassment, arbitrary arrests, and extortion.” There could be a vote on the bill as early as Thursday, Nov. 22.
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