UGANDA’S “KILL THE GAYS” OR ''KILL THE BILL'' ON HOLD

For the past few months, Uganda has been making news around the world for the controversial ''Kill the Gays'' bill that was introduced to legislation May 2011. Now, new headlines announce that, in the last few weeks, the suggestion of a death penalty in the bill has been dropped, but there has been no mention of dropping life in prison. The members of Uganda’s parliament are on vacation now, and won’t be coming back to work until February
The bill was in parliament until May 2011 where it was never voted on. It then resurfaced again in February 2012. It originally aimed to put homosexuals in prison for life or sentence them to the death penalty depending on the severity of the violation. The bill originally divided the violations into two categories, “The offense of homosexuality” and “Aggravated homosexuality.” An offender of “The offense of homosexuality” would be sentenced to life in prison, while an offender of “Aggravated homosexuality” would be given the death penalty. The bill also aimed to punish those who openly supported homosexuals; the bill could put people in jail for at least 5 years if they tried to help a homosexual in any way or if they promoted homosexuality. That meant that having a different opinion than the Ugandan government could cause an open minded person to go to jail.

The President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni said: "If there are some homosexuals, we shall not kill or persecute them but there should be no promotion of homosexuality.''

Nations and world leaders across the globe have condemned the bill, and many have threatened to cut off foreign aid to Uganda.

Ugandan Parliamentarian David Bahati, original author of the bill, now says that the latest version, which has not been publicly released, has “moved away from the death penalty after considering all the issues that have been raised.” However, Bahati also said the bill now focuses on “protecting children from gay pornography, banning gay marriage, counseling gays, as well as punishing those who promote gay culture,” each carrying jail terms.