“Homosexuality is not a crime. Homosexuals are human beings like us, and I believe their rights also matter, so let’s learn to accommodate them in our societies and treat them with respect,” said MP Frank Kabuye of Kassanda South County.
MP Kabuye, also the shadow minister for youth and children’s affairs, tweeted on Saturday confirming his respect for the rights of homosexuals.
MP Kabuye said, “If we continue with this misinformation about homosexuality, I believe Uganda will lose out on a lot of foreign aid because of violating gay rights.The LGBTQ people are human beings like us, and they deserve to be treated with respect; otherwise, we are abusing their rights.”
According to him, the rights of homosexuals include freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of sex, and freedom of marriage; therefore, let’s stop discriminating against each other.
Citing the interview that NUP leader Bobi Wine had on BBS TV station in Kampala when he was asked if he supports homosexuality but eventually dodged the question and gambled around, MP Kabuye warned against joking with the homosexuals, adding that they can end your career.
“The LGBTQ+ community is here to win.I know of MPs, Ministers, and other people in government who are not straight.I dare Bobi Wine to make a tweet and say I don’t support homosexuality; I promise you he will lose everything he has, including sponsors and partners,” he noted.
“Why do you think the church can never say anything about homosexuality? All their comments are generic in nature, be it in your leaders. Those homosexuals are powerful. See what happened to pastors like Male and Sempa when they tried? I think pastor Kiganda is now pro-gay, ever since that 2015 demonstration against him by homosexuals when he was in the United Kingdom. His comments are funny,” MP Kabuye tweeted.
He later issued a disclaimer regarding the statement posted using his official Twitter account, claiming it was hacked.
On Saturday, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the former presidential candidate and leader of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party, attacked parliament over the Anti-Homosexuality 2023 Act, describing it as “diversionary” and must be rejected.
Bobi Wine says the bill, which was introduced in parliament by fellow opposition party leader MP Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA, is a “trick” being played by President Yoweri Museveni to spark confrontation between his opponents in the opposition and their foreign partners.
Last week, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Winnie Byanyima, asked the Government of Uganda to accept homosexuality, describing it as normal and saying that those involved must be allowed to love and associate freely without criminalizing them.
Byanyima, also the wife of Col (Rtd) Kizza Besigye, the founding chairman of the Forum for Democratic Change, an opposition party in Uganda, argued that gays and lesbians have rights of association and should be left to engage normally.
She strongly condemned the Parliament of Uganda for tabling the bill to prohibit homosexuality and vowed to fight it.
According to Byanyima, the Ugandan Parliament should enact a law that will allow homosexuality and allow the homosexuals to exercise “their right to associate,” just like a three-to-two majority of Supreme Court judges in Kenya ruled on February 24.
