August 6, 2014
Ugandan Lawmakers in Campaign to Revive Anti-Gay Law
Bobby McGuire READ TIME: 1 MIN.
KAMPALA, Uganda - A Ugandan lawmaker says he has started a campaign to reintroduce a recently invalided anti-gay measure and have it passed within weeks.
Latif Ssebaggala said Wednesday that he had collected the signatures of 150 lawmakers who promised to vote for the bill when parliament emerges from a recess later this month.
Uganda's Constitutional Court on Friday invalidated an anti-gay measure enacted in February, saying it was passed during a parliamentary session that lacked a quorum.
Because the court didn't rule on the substance of the law, lawmakers can reintroduce the same legislation, which allows for jail terms of up to life for homosexual offenses.
Despite having wide support in Uganda, the law has been condemned by watchdog groups, gay activists and some Western governments that withheld or redirected funding.
