Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has refused to approve a controversial bill to toughen punishments for homosexuals.
He has written to the parliamentary speaker criticizing her for passing it in December without a quorum.
Homosexuals were “abnormal” or were so for “mercenary reasons” and could be “rescued,” a local paper quotes his letter as saying.
The bill provides for life imprisonment for homosexual acts and also makes it a crime not to report gay people.
The promotion of homosexuality – even talking about it without condemning the lifestyle – would also be punishable by a prison term.
The BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga in the capital, Kampala, says the president is aware that if he signs the bill there will be an international outcry, which could see some countries suspend aid to the country.
The president’s spokesman told the AFP news agency that Museveni believes that gay people are sick, but this does not mean they should be killed or jailed for life.
“What the president has being saying is that we shall not persecute these homosexuals and lesbians. That is the point,” said Tamale Mirudi.
He denied that the president had changed his mind under pressure.
“The president’s position has been the same for a long time, nothing has changed,” he added.
BBC reports Museveni is trying to reach a compromise with the members of parliament because even if he refuses to sign the bill, parliament can still force it through with a two-thirds vote.
In contrast to Nigeria, where earlier this month the president signed a bill banning same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection, Museveni is politically strong and so more able to resist pressure from conservative groups, according to BBC.
‘Sexual Starvation’
Museveni said the bill was forced through despite his advice to shelve it until the government had studied it in depth, Uganda’s private Monitor newspaper reports.
“Even with legislation, they will simply go underground and continue practicing [sic] homosexuality or lesbianism for mercenary reasons,” he is quoted as saying.
The president’s eight-page letter to speaker Rebecca Kadaga said homosexuals could be “rescued” by improving the economy.
He also disputed the view that homosexuality could be described as an “alternative sexual orientation”.
“You cannot call an abnormality an alternative orientation. It could be that the Western societies, on account of random breeding, have generated many abnormal people,” he said.
He said another reason women became lesbians was because of “sexual starvation” when they failed to marry, the Monitor reports.
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