“Homosexuality, contrary to my earlier thinking, was
behavioural and not genetic. It was learnt and could be unlearnt. I told them
to put their signatures to that conclusion which they did. That is why I
declared my intention to sign the Bill, which I will do”.
Before I react to Obama’s statement, let me, again,
put on record my views on the issue of homosexuals (ebitiingwa, bisiyaga in
some of our dialects). Right from the beginning of this debate, my views were
as follows:
• I agreed with the MPs and almost all Ugandans that
promotion of homosexuality in Uganda must be criminalized or rather should continue
to be criminalized because the British had already done that;
• those who agreed to become homosexuals for
mercenary reasons (prostitutes) should be harshly punished as should those who
paid them to be homosexual prostitutes; and • exhibitionism of homosexual
behavior must be punished because, in this
part of the world, it is forbidden to publicly exhibit any sexual
conduct (kissing, etc) even for heterosexuals; if I kissed my wife of 41 years
in public, I would lose elections in Uganda.
The only point I disagreed on with some of the
Members of Parliament (MPs)and other Ugandans was on the persons I thought were
born homosexual. According to the casual observations, there are rare
deviations in nature from the normal. You witness cases like albinos (nyamagoye),
barren women or men (enguumba), epa (breastless women) etc.
I, therefore, thought that similarly there were
people that were born with the disorientation of being attracted to the same
sex. That is why I thought that it was
wrong to punish somebody on account of being born abnormal. That is why I
refused to sign the Bill and, instead, referred it to our Party (the NRM) to
debate it again.
Yoweri K. Museveni Gen. (Rtd)
In the meantime, I sought for scientific opinions on
this matter. I am grateful to Ms. Kerry Kennedy of the USA who sent me opinions
by scientists from the USA saying that there could be some indications that
homosexuality could be congenital. In our conference, I put these opinions to
our scientists from the Department of Genetics, the School of Medicine and the
Ministry of Health.
Their unanimous conclusion was that homosexuality,
contrary to my earlier thinking, was behavioural and not genetic. It was learnt
and could be unlearnt. I told them to put their signatures to that conclusion
which they did. That is why I declared my intention to sign the Bill, which I
will do.
I have now received their signed document, which
says there is no single gene that has been traced to cause homosexuality. What
I want them to clarify is whether a combination of genes can cause anybody to
be homosexual. Then my task will be finished and I will sign the Bill.
After my statement to that effect which was quoted
widely around the world, I got reactions from some friends from outside Africa.
Statements like: “it is a matter of choice” or “whom they love” which President
Obama repeated in his statement would be most furiously rejected by almost the
entirety of our people.
It cannot be a matter of choice for a man to behave
like a woman or vice-versa. The argument I had pushed was that there could be
people who are born like that or “who they are”, according to President Obama’s
statement. I, therefore, encourage the US government to help us by working with
our scientists to study whether, indeed, there are people who are born homosexual.
When that is proved, we can review this legislation.
I would be among those who will spearhead that
effort. That is why I had refused to sign the Bill until my premise was knocked
down by the position of our Scientists. I would like to discourage the USA
government from taking the line that passing this law will “complicate our
valued relationship” with the USA as President Obama said. Countries and
societies should relate with each other on the basis of mutual respect and
independence in decision making.
“Valued relationship” cannot be sustainably
maintained by one Society being subservient to another society. There are
myriad acts the societies in the West do that we frown on or even detest. We,
however, never comment on those acts or make them preconditions for working
with the West.
Africans do not seek to impose their views on
anybody. We do not want anybody to impose their views on us. This very debate
was provoked by Western groups who come to our schools and try to recruit
children into homosexuality. It is better to limit the damage rather than
exacerbate it.
I thank everybody.
Yoweri K. Museveni Gen. (Rtd) is president of Uganda
The State Department had earlier released the
statement below;
This is a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care
about the cause of human rights. Ultimately, the only answer is repeal of this
law.
The United States is deeply disappointed in the
enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. For the four years since
the bill was introduced, we have been crystal clear that it blatantly violates
human rights obligations that Uganda’s Human Rights Commission itself has
recognized are enshrined in Uganda’s Constitution
Today’s signing threatens a dangerous slide backward
in Uganda’s commitment to protecting the human rights of its people and a
serious threat to the LGBT community in Uganda.
We are also deeply concerned about the law’s
potential to set back public health efforts in Uganda, including those to address
HIV/AIDS, which must be conducted in a non-discriminatory manner in order to be
effective.
As President Obama stated, this legislation is not
just morally wrong, it complicates a valued relationship. Now that this law has
been enacted, we are beginning an internal review of our relationship with the
Government of Uganda to ensure that all dimensions of our engagement, including
assistance programs, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and
reflect our values.
