Monthly Archives: December 2012

Hopes of religious leaders in Uganda for new legislation with severe punishments for  LGB&T people in Uganda have been postponed to next year.

The now infamous Anti-gay Bill first introduced by David Bahati MP is back on the parliamentary agenda and some had called for it to be passed by Christmas as ‘present to the Ugandan people’ – a view echoed by the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament (see NTV report on All Africa).

But the parliament adjourned for the Christmas break without considering the bill again and will not reconvene until February.

There are conflicting reports about whether the Bill still contains the death penalty for some offences, but life imprisonment is certainly still there, as are prison sentences for individuals who fail to inform the police on homosexuals.

Perhaps a better Christmas present for the people of Uganda would be to sign one of the many on-line petitions which is calling for the Bill to be dropped?  If you have not yet done so, here are some links:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/uganda_stop_gay_death_law/

http://www.allout.org/uganda-now?akid=965.24918.5Bc3bM&rd=1&t=3&utm_campaign=uganda-now&utm_content=english&utm_medium=email&utm_source=actionkit

http://www.change.org/petitions/citibank-and-barclays-condemn-uganda-s-kill-the-gays-bill

A good summary of the issues and comments can be found at  Thinking Anglicans

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Prime Minister David Cameron has indicated that there will be a change in the proposed legislation on same-sex marriage following consultation earlier this year.

The original proposals sought to make a distinction between ‘civil’ and ‘religious’ marriage by insisting that same-sex marriages would not take place in religious buildings.

But ahead of the revised proposals expected to be published later this week, the Prime Minister has indicated that churches will be allowed to celebrate same-sex marriages if they want to, while promising that no church or religious venue will be forced to do so.

The change of heart has undoubtedly come as a result of the church objecting to this new division between civil and religious marriage, and the lobbying of LGB&T groups who argued that to exclude churches from offering same-sex marriage would simply repeat the same mistake that accompanied the introduction of Civil Partnerships (an exclusion which was later reversed by the House of Lords).

The news has been welcomed by many pro-LGBT Christian groups, but the Church of England has issued a press release reaffirming its opposition to same-sex marriage.  Only in the very last paragraph does it welcome the change of heart on dividing civil from religious marriage saying, “We welcome the fact that in his statement the Prime Minister has signalled he is abandoning the Government’s earlier intention to distinguish between civil and religious marriage.”

The proposed legislation is expected to come before Parliament next year.

(The full statement from the CofE can be read here and a statement by LGCM can be read here)