Scotland Wants To Offer Asylum To Gay Ugandans
By Dennis Lynch
on March 01 2014 10:48 AM
Postcards and a Scottish flag are displayed outside a Scottish
souvenir shop in Edinburgh, Scotland January 12, 2012 REUTERS/David
Moir
Humza Yousaf, Scotland's Minister For External Affairs, has announced
that Scotland is willing to offer asylum to Ugandans persecuted under
Uganda's latest harsh anti-gay laws, Scottish newspaper The Herald
reports.
Yousaf detailed Scotland's commitment to Ugandans in a letter to UK
Foreign Secretary William Hague. He urged the UK as a whole to offer
help for persecuted Ugandans.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act
into law earlier this week. The law makes gay marriage and "aggravated
homosexuality" punishable with life in prison and criminalizes almost
any other act related to homosexuality. It is regarded as the harshest
anti-gay law in the world.
A number of gay Ugandans and gay-rights activists have been
extrajudicially killed in Uganda. A number of others are committing
(or attempting to commit)
suicide. Local newspapers regularly print lists of suspected gay
Ugandans, prompting attacks and violence. Rights activist David Kato
was murdered in 2011 after being "outed" by one such tabloid.
The letter comes in advance of Ugandan officials attending the 2014
Commonwealth Games
in Glasglow this summer. The Commonwealth Games invite 53 nation from
around the world to compete in athletic competitions. Most of the
nations were once territories of the former British Empire.
Same-sex relationships are criminalized in 41 of the 53 nations in the
Commonwealth, according to the Kaleidoscope Trust, which monitors LGBT
rights in the Commonwealth.
"No one from any part of the Commonwealth who visits Scotland will be
under any doubt about our values as a welcoming, open and tolerant
society," wrote Yousaf.
"The Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda is a huge step back for
equality and I have written to the UK government asking it to make the
strongest possible representations to the government of Uganda."
"I have also urged the UK foreign secretary to offer asylum to any
Ugandans who suffer threat or persecution as a result of the
legislation."
Hague's office has not responded to Yousaf's letter but has previously
urged the Ugandan government to put an end to LGBT discrimination.

Dennis Lynch
Junior Reporter
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Graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's fine Journalism
program. Traveling will be a part of my job, I've got my eyes on South
America, the Middle East, Africa,...
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