{"id":255885,"date":"2023-03-31T13:53:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T11:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/ramaphosa-asked-to-speak-out-on-ugandas-homophobic-law\/"},"modified":"2023-03-31T13:53:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T11:53:32","slug":"ramaphosa-asked-to-speak-out-on-ugandas-homophobic-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/ramaphosa-asked-to-speak-out-on-ugandas-homophobic-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa asked to speak out on Uganda\u2019s homophobic law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About 100 members of the LGBTQ community marched to Parliament to plead with President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and discourage Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni from signing into law a bill that criminalises homosexuality. Photo: Vincent Lali<\/p>\n

About 100 members of the LGBTQ community marched to Parliament to plead with President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and discourage Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni from signing into law a new bill that criminalises homosexuality.<\/p>\n

The protesters held up placards that read: \u201cAbolish the Anti-homo Bill\u201d, \u201cLove is Love\u201d, and \u201cProtect Queer Kids\u201d, as they marched and sang struggle songs.<\/p>\n

The march included representatives from the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, Safe Place International, Triangle Project, Pachedu, Gender Dynamics and #UniteBehind.<\/p>\n

Jacqui Benson-Mabombo, a spokesperson for Shemah Koleinu (Hear our voices), said the bill is only waiting for the Ugandan president\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are calling on our president to come out and object to what is happening in Uganda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benson-Mbombo said just the passing of the bill has already affected the LGBTQ community in Uganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganisations giving health care to LGBTQ community face jail terms and people are forced to report members of the LGBTQ community to the police,\u201d said Benson-Mabombo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my mother doesn\u2019t report me, she may herself face arrest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said people who officiate same-sex marriages and journalists who report on LGBTQ activities will also face arrest in Uganda.<\/p>\n

Pharie Sefali, Program Manager for Triangle Project, said people have had to flee their homes fearing attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are gay or lesbian and you are visible about it, you are sentenced to death in Uganda,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople should not be punished for choosing who they love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the government to intervene and advise the Ugandan government not to pass the bill,\u201d Sefali said.<\/p>\n

Lynn Bust, project manager of the LGBT Plus Health Division at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, said, \u201cThe Bill entrenches discrimination and inequality for these already vulnerable populations \u2026 A massive step backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the protesters\u2019 memorandum, \u201cThe Bill is truly a blatant contradiction of the regional and international commitment which Uganda has not only signed, but has ratified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis anti-homosexual Bill is a regression of the lengthy and arduous labour toward the attainment and protection of regional and international human rights,\u201d says the memorandum.<\/p>\n

The memorandum calls upon \u201call other member states of the United Nations to take a stand against this anti-homosexual Bill and hold Uganda accountable for the criminality of this imminent enactment\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 100 members of the LGBTQ community marched to Parliament to plead with President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and discourage Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni from signing into law a bill that criminalises homosexuality. Photo: Vincent Lali About 100 members of the LGBTQ community marched to Parliament to plead with President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":255886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-255885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/ramaphosa-asked-to-speak-out-on-ugandas-homophobic-law.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}