>> ANDREA HOUSTON - I'm Andrea Houston for Xtra and all eyes are on Uganda as they are
poised to pass the "Kill the Gays" Bill. This bill will make illegal to be gay in Uganda
punishable by death. We have interviewed a few gay Ugandan refugees and for their safety
and protection we have blurred their faces and distorted their voices.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Tell me what's going through your mind and we look to Uganda that will
likely pass it by Christmas
>> BRENDA - There is going to be a lot of terror. They will kill them. It will be disaster.
I'm not happy about it and I don't really know what I can express about it. It's really
terrible.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Give me a picture of what life will be like for a gay and lesbian person
in Uganda when this bill passes. How will their life change?
>> BRENDA - When that bill passes most people are going to kill themselves because they
can't be. They can't live. I mean where will you pass? In Uganda sometimes they are not
sure whether you are gay because you are always hiding, you are under cover. There are very
few who come out to show that they are gay but you know what they go through? They are
always being terrorized, they are always being harassed. They are always being hated.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - How can Canadian's help? What can we do?
>> MARTIN - How Canadians us is try to get to know what is entailed in this bill and
what they are trying to do to the gay and lesbian community in Uganda. I will just point
out a few sections that I would really like people to get comfortable with and people
to get to know how sections of this law impact the gay community. Number One, the definition
of the offence in the bill. The was it's stipulated it's makes. It's defining marriage as between
man and woman, it prohibits any homosexual behaviour within the community, and it rectifies
any international treaties, conventions, protocols, and agreements that are going to be inconsistent
with gay or lesbian or homosexual actions. And then it's also going to prohibit any organization
that promotes homosexuality or serves homosexual groups in Uganda. So whether it's there to
help the HIV suffering homosexuals or within the education or just the personal involvement
of any of the individuals. Those organizations are going to be banned. Any then another section
that I would really like to talk about is how this bill effects those of us who've been
lucky enough to leave the country but are now part of the Canadian society. Let me just
read the section exactly how it is. A person who, while being a citizen of or permanently
residing in Uganda, commits an act outside of Uganda, in essence the act is you know
homosexual behaviour which act would constitute an offence under this Act had it been committed
in Uganda. So in essence, being a gay man in Canada, I'm already subjected to this act
if it becomes law.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Now I am going to be speaking with Antonin. He is from Ghana and he has
been watching the unfolding of the fight for Uganda. Where is this hatred of gay people
coming from in Uganda? It's been growing over the last five years, but where does it come
from?
>> ANTONIN - Well it comes from when David Kato was killed. Because when you remember
he was put in the newspaper with his picture.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Hang them was the headline.
>> ANTONIN - So they started right from there. And also when you look at the comment from
David Cameron the Prime Minister of Britain - that any country that receives aid from
the British Government should respect gay rights or they do risk having their aid be
cut. So the African leaders including the Ugandan government was mad, wasn't happy,
British government is trying to interfere into the affairs of the Ugandan people and
the British government cannot dictate for them and if they wanted they should take their
evil money. Because I remember the Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe calling Britain, the
British, calling David Cameron satanic because he said they should respect gay rights.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - The religious influence has been one of the big reasons why this thing
has been written. Can religion help overturn it?
>> MARTIN - Unfortunately, for the case of Uganda, the church and especially the Evangelical
Christians have actually helped in trying to push forward the agenda of the bill and
trying to ensure the bill gets passed.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - How can Canada respond? How in Canada can we help? What can we do?
>> BRENDA - I think Canada should take over and look for all of those people and rescue
them before it's too late.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Here in Canada we talk a lot about opening up our borders. Is that
something Canada can do to help is make it easier to for refugees to seek asylum in Canada?
>> MARTIN - That would be very great and certainly you know they have been, they have been very
very helpful for fellow Ugandans and you know Uganda in this case is the country where the
bill is very very strong, but you have 7,8 other countries that are looking at what goes
on in Uganda and try to model after that so whatever the Canadian gov. can do please assist.
Our people generally don't want to leave, where they come from, thousands and thousands
of miles, leave everything they know so they can just live somewhere else that is so foreign
to them. Sometimes there comes a situation where you totally have no choice but to leave
your place.
>> BRENDA - People should understand that we are human beings, where are what we are
and they have to accept us. But it's very hard for the Africans, most especially Uganda,
I don't know what's happening. It has really become terror. And they think they are making
'names' yeah? They are like "Yes, we have fought the Western world, it's not going to
impact this on us." Yet they are really hurting people, they are putting us under pressure,
as in disaster. We have all fled our homes because of it.
>> ANTONIN -You are talking about death, you are talking about life. The lives of ordinary
citizens of Uganda. They are not foreigners, they are citizens, they were born in Uganda.
Why should they pass a bill that tries to kill its own citizens? The citizens that have
voted for you to come to power to rule them. It's absurd.
>> ANDREA HOUSTON - Thank you so much for speaking to us. I really appreciate it.