A key Senate committee is preparing to
debate a resolution that would urge Ugandan lawmakers to dump a
controversial anti-gay bill.
Nineteen lawmakers, including
Republican Senators Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, Tom Coburn of
Oklahoma and Susan Collins of Maine, have signed on as co-sponsors of
the resolution since Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold's February
introduction.
Feingold's resolution calls on members
of the Parliament of Uganda to reject a bill that includes a death
penalty provision for people who repeatedly engage in gay sex and
those who are HIV-positive. The bill also bans the “promotion of
homosexuality,” which would effectively outlaw political
organizations, broadcasters and publishers that advocate on behalf of
gay rights.
The bill's tangled language could allow
straight folks to be put to death, as well. The death penalty
provision applies to anyone who is found guilty of “aggravated
homosexuality,” a term used to describe a repeat offender. Those
offenses include failing to report to officials knowledge of a person
who is gay. Therefore, a person does not need to engage in gay sex
to bring the death penalty to bear.
While a scheduled March 23 meeting in
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which includes the resolution
on its agenda has been postponed, Federick Jones, a spokesman for the
committee, assured On Top Magazine in
an email that the meeting will take place later in the week.
A similar House resolution also
introduced in February might receive its first outing during a House
Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on US policy in Africa scheduled
for Wednesday. The committee is chaired by California Representative
Howard L. Berman, the resolution's primary sponsor.
Berman's resolution has attracted 58
co-sponsors, including openly gay representatives Barney Frank of
Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jared Polis of
Colorado.
Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and President Obama criticized the proposal at the National Prayer
Breakfast in February. Obama described the measure as “odious.”
In addition to urging the Uganda
Parliament to reject the anti-gay bill, the resolution also “urges
all countries around the world to reject and repeal similar laws that
criminalize homosexuality, and encourages the United States
Department of State to closely monitor human rights abuses that occur
because of sexual orientation.”