The Uganda cabinet sealed the fate of a controversial bill that would make homosexuality punishable by death in the country. Cabinet members barred legislators’ attempts to reintroduce the measure last week, citing that the country already has “sufficient law to take care of all crimes envisaged by the proposed anti-homosexuality bill.”
Several Members of Parliament and a group of Ugandan bishops introduced the bill in October 2009 as part of an anti-gay movement. Reuters reports that the U.S. government condemned the proposed bill, calling it “odious” and urging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to strike it down.
Uganda’s Attorney General, Peter Nyombi, spoke to press regarding the cabinet’s decision to block the measure, stating, “We discussed that bill in cabinet last week and after views from everyone were heard and debated, a decision was unanimously taken to drop that proposed law.”
Political analysts in the country suggest that the cabinet’s decision to reject the anti-gay measure should significantly delay, if not prevent, the bill from becoming law.
