And you thought "dont ask, don't tell" was bad.

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KAMPALA, Uganda – Proposed legislation that would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, require their family and friends  to face seven years in jail if they failed to report them to authorities and  even imprison landlords for renting to homosexuals was struck down.

Gay-rights activists say the bill, which prompted growing international opposition, promoted hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal.

“It’s a question of visibility,” said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. “When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us.”

The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues. The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual. However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.

The Ugandan legislation would have mandated a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. “Serial offenders” also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” faced seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with “religious, political, economic or social authority” who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

Uganda has since dropped the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for new presentation to Parliament, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.

The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the capital punishment to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties, Buturo said in a phone interview from the capital, Kampala.

The Ugandan government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are “repugnant to the Ugandan culture,” Buturo said. Still, it favors a more refined set of punishments, he said.

In addition to formulating punishments for the gay people, the bill will also promote counseling to help “attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation,” said Buturo.

The proposed legislation has attracted criticism from gay rights activists, both locally and internationally, who argue that the law would promote discrimination and hatred toward the gay community.

Influenced by Western lifestyle?
David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said he was encouraging “constructive criticism” to improve the law but insisted strict measures were necessary to stop homosexuals from “recruiting” schoolchildren.

“The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America,” said high school teacher David Kisambira. “A good number of students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities.”

This story is filed under: Arts & Culture

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