Author of Uganda’s gay execution bill to attend prayer breakfast with Obama
David Bahati, the MP who authored Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill, is expected to attend a prayer breakfast with US president Barack Obama.
Bahati told the Ugandan newspaper Sunday Monitor he would be attending the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4th.
The event usually attended by the president, who the newspaper described as a “gays-tolerant liberal president”.
The breakfast is organised by The Fellowship – a secretive conservative Christian organisation which is also known as The Family. Its members include politicians, religious leaders and corporate executives.
Bahati may be asked to speak at the event, which will also be attended by Congress members and Cabinet secretaries. Previous speakers have included Tony Blair, Bono and Mother Theresa.
Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni signalled last week that he was stepping back from the bill, which would execute gays in some circumstances.
He said his country must consider its “foreign interests” and cited world leaders such as British prime minister Gordon Brown, who had expressed his concern about the proposed legislation.
Bahati, the MP for Ndorwa West, has refused to back down, saying his bill will “protect the traditional family”.
The country’s minister for ethics James Nsaba Buturo said recently he believed Museveni did not support the death penalty for gays and said the provision was likely to be removed from the bill.
Aston Kajara, minister of state for investments, has also said the bill is “unnecessary”.
The bill would impose the death penalty on gays who sex with minors, disabled people or while living with HIV, along with repeat offenders. Other homosexuality offences, such as failing to report incidents to police, would result in imprisonment.
It is expected to come before parliament in late February or early March.
