Uganda President Yoweri Museveni on
Wednesday denied anti-gay discrimination exists in his country and
asserted that all a proposed anti-gay bill would do is ban public
kissing.
The bill, first introduced in 2009 by
MP David Bahati, once called for putting repeat offenders to death
under certain circumstances. The current bill would criminalize
discussions of homosexuality and penalize a person who knowingly
rents to a gay or lesbian person.
Museveni made his comments during an
appearance on CNN's Amanpour.
Appearing via satellite, Museveni told
host Amanda Amanpour that homosexuality was being imported into his
country.
“Before we came in touch with the
Europeans, we had some few homosexuals,” Museveni said. “I want
to inform the world that those homosexuals were not killed, as some
people are claiming, they were not persecuted and they were not
discriminated against.”
“However, Africans are by nature
discrete people. … We never exhibit our sexual acts in public,”
he said, giving the example that he's never kissed his wife in
public. “Therefore, the problem [is] with exhibitionism.”
“And the second problem would be
trying to lure young children into homosexuality.”
When Amanpour asked if creating
anti-gay sentiment was acceptable in his country, Museveni asserted:
“What does the world not agree with us about? Because I have told
you there is no discrimination, there is no persecution, certainly
there is no killing. The only thing that is controversial, not only
for homosexuals, but for all forms of sexual acts is exhibitionism.
You don't kiss in public.”
Museveni also denied that gay
activist David Kato's murder was a hate crime.
“He had some personal quarrels with
some of his partners,” he said. (The video is embedded in the
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