inde /

The Republic of Uganda

STATE HOUSE

Telephone 0414 231900/0414343308 Fax: 0414 235462 Email: Press@statehouse.go.ug Department of Press and Public Relations. News. Information. Communication

Press Release

Exhibiting sexual acts in public is an affront on African traditions President March 19, 2013 President Yoweri Museveni has said the issue of homosexuality and lesbianism has been totally distorted leading to the wrong public debate. In our society, there were a few homosexuals. There was no persecution, no killings and no marginalization of these people but they were regarded as deviants. Sex among Africans including heterosexuals is confidential. If am to kiss my wife in public, I would lose an election in Uganda. Western people exhibit sexual acts in public which we dont do here, he said, adding that, Africans do even punish heterosexuals who publically expose their sexual acts. The President said what is new is the way Europeans and other western people handle the issue of sexuality in general including public flaunting which is a problem and luring young people into acts of homosexuality for money. He said attempts to promote homosexuality as an alternative way of life has led to engagements in running battles with the church.

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You have a lot of room in your house, why dont you go there. Sex is a bilateral issue, not a multilateral one, he said. The President was yesterday meeting a delegation of USA human rights activists led by Kerry Kennedy, the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Kennedy who was accompanied by several lawyers, actors and religious leaders expressed concern with what she described as harassment of the Gay and Lesbian Community in Uganda including exposure of the pictures by publications such as the Red Pepper and the Rolling Stones tabloids saying it is a violation of peoples rights to put pictures of sexual minority groups in the papers. She also said the pending bill on homosexuality works against the international law treaties that Uganda has signed. Ms Kennedy cautioned against the misconceptions that equate paedophiles with homosexuals. Kerry Kennedy is the author of The New York Times best seller Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning, published by Crown Books/Random House in September 2008, and Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World, (Random House, 2000). Reacting to various issues raised by the team, the President said he would investigate claims of violence against homosexuals, adding that for a viable solution, activists must respect the confidentiality of sex in our traditions and culture. He reemphasized that in Uganda, there is no discrimination, no
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killings, no marginalization, no luring of young people using money into homosexual acts, The President said he is under pressure to ban publications such as the Red Pepper, a local tabloid which is increasing promoting nudity. We could have closed it but because of the pressure by western powers about the free press, we relaxed. But now am under pressure to ban that paper for exposing heterosexual nudity. This is an affront on our culture. Now if you add homosexuality Heterosexuality is enough provocation with both of these, it is too much, he said. The team pledged to work with the President on the laws regarding overt sexual acts by offering free consultancy. END