The now notorious piece of legislation was originally scheduled
for debate on the 11th May, but the day's proceedings ended due to
the lack of a necessary parliamentary quorum. As a result,
deliberations were scheduled to continue on Friday.
Today is a Ugandan national holiday.
Human Rights Watch warns: "The bill would introduce the death
penalty as a sanction for some consensual sex between members of
the same sex, the same penalty provided for terrorism and treason.
It would be an offense for a person who is aware of any violations
of the bill's provisions not to report them to the relevant
authorities within 24 hours."
The author of the bill, David Bahati, a member of parliament from
the ruling party, suggested that he may amend the bill's most
controversial provisions but no new versions of the bill have yet
been published.
British foreign secretary William Hague said earlier in the week
that the UK is continuing to raise concerns with the Ugandan
government. "We urge Ugandan MPs to reject it," he said.
He continued: "our embassy is lobbying Ugandan gov & the UK
initiated a formal EU demarche to the Ugandan foreign minister on
the bill," via the micro-blogging site Twitter.
