The St Matthew's Team
04 Nov 2009 00:00:00
It is with a heavy heart that we write on behalf of our Wardens, staff, and congregation to express our dismay and disgust at a draconian and hate-filled bill currently before the Ugandan Parliament. This bill, The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, consolidates previous legislation relating to homosexuality and introduces several new measures. If such a bill was ever introduced in Aotearoa New Zealand the Vicar and Wardens of St Matthew’s, the Bishop of Auckland, as well as most of St Matthew’s congregation could be imprisoned for up to 7 years [section 13].
According to the text of the bill introduced in the Ugandan Parliament last week the new law would:
- Reaffirm the lifetime sentence currently provided upon conviction of homosexuality, and extends the definition from sexual activity to merely “touch[ing] another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”
- Criminalizes all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender [LGBT] citizens in Uganda with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.
- Criminalizes the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.
- Adds a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
- Adds extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
- The wording makes it possible that any MP seeking to overturn this legislation in the future would be committing an illegal act.[1]
The bishops of the Church of Uganda have participated in Lambeth Conferences where the bishops committed themselves to speak out against capital punishment (Lambeth 1988 33:3b), and to condemn the irrational fear of homosexuals (Lambeth 1998 1:10d).
We ask the Church of Uganda to make her voice heard in protest at this legislation and in defense of the civil liberties and dignity of an oppressed minority of the population of Uganda.
We further call on our Archbishops Turei, Moxon and Bryce and all the bishops of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia to publicly denounce this legislation and to privately contact their colleagues in Uganda to encourage them in their opposition.
The team at St Matthew-in-the-City
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