Uganda Barbaric Law against Gays may be Passed Tomorrow

by Jstin Morahan Fri May 13, 2011 00:11

The Bill was not debated on Wednesday but unusually put back to a special debate Friday 13 May when Parliament should ordinarily be closed.

by Justin Morahan Sat May 14, 2011 15:53

The following update has been posted by Avaaz:

"Great news -- the bill has has been shelved! Together, we've won a major fight for equality and justice. Over 1.6 million of us signed the petition opposing the anti-gay bill, tens of thousands of us called our heads of state, and we helped make the attack on gay rights in Uganda a major international news story -- and it worked.

Today, under intense global pressure, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament blocked the anti-gay bill from coming to a vote in the emergency session. Now Parliament has closed and the bill has been wiped from the books. It's not necessarily gone for good, but to be considered again, it would have to be reintroduced as a new bill and go through the whole Parliamentary process -- which took 18 months last time.

Our global outcry made it clear that the world is watching, and demanding that human rights be respected everywhere. Today, we can join our friends in Uganda in celebration of a victory that could save thousands of lives. "

Thanks to all who helped make a difference.

by HumblePie Sat May 14, 2011 16:29

Wow, I never thought Avaaz made a whit of difference and was just free intelligence gathering for the authorities, but in light of this, maybe I need to rethink this opinion.

This is really great news for 10% of the population of Uganda.

Kudos to Avaaz. It seems this time it really was instrumental in bringing change for the better.

by Justin Morahan Mon May 16, 2011 13:08

Good on you Humble Pie. Like Gandhi, you can change your mind when you learn something new. Here is the heart-warming Avaaz "thank you" to the 1.6 million (plus) who signed the petition and all who helped in any way to prevent the Bill becoming law.

"Uganda's anti-gay law has failed! It looked sure to pass last week, but after 1.6 million petition signatures delivered to Parliament, tens of thousands of phone calls to our own governments, hundreds of media stories* about our campaign and a massive global outcry, Ugandan politicians dropped the bill!

It was down to the wire - religious extremists tried to push the bill through on Wednesday, and then convened an unprecedented emergency session of Parliament on Friday. But each time, within hours, we reacted. *A huge congratulations to everyone who signed, called, forwarded and donated* to this campaign - with our help, thousands of innocent people in Uganda's gay community do not wake up this morning facing execution for whom they chose to love.

Frank Mugisha, a courageous leader of the gay community in Uganda sent us this message:

'Brave Ugandan LGBT activists and millions of people around the world have stood together and faced down this horrendous anti-homosexuality bill.The support from the Avaaz global community has tipped the scales to prevent this Bill going forward. Global solidarity has made a huge difference'

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs' Office also wrote to Avaaz:

'Many thanks. As you know, thanks to a very large extent to the intensive lobbying and combined effort of you, other civil society representatives, EU and other governments, plus our delegation and embassies on the ground the Bill was not presented to the Parliament this morning.'

This fight is not over. The extremists behind this bill could try again within just 18 months. But this is the second time we've helped defeat this bill, and we'll keep going until the hate-mongers give up.

Transforming the deeper causes of ignorance and hatred behind homophobia is an historic, long term struggle, one of the great causes of our generation. But Uganda has become a front line in that struggle, and a powerful symbol. The victory there echoes across many other places where hope is desperately needed, showing that *kindness, love, tolerance and respect can defeat hatred and ignorance. Again, a huge thanks to all who made it happen.

With enormous gratitude and admiration for this amazing community,

Ricken, Emma, Iain, Alice, Giulia, Saloni and the whole Avaaz team.."