The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.
Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV – which will be called "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as "serial offenders".
It also calls for life prison sentences for those "promoting homosexuality", which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.
One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.
The British government's views have been conveyed to Uganda but officials have not received a clear sense of whether the legislature will pass the bill into law.
Ugandan government officials appear to be using stalling tactics, suggesting it will not come to a vote until 2011, deflecting pressure from a government that could change in the forthcoming general election.
Bahati submitted a private member's bill to the Ugandan parliament last year arguing that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice.
Gay sex is already illegal in Uganda but backbenchers there are pushing for more draconian punishment by preying on fears that homosexuals are "recruiting" children at schools.
Though observers believe President Yoweri Museveni was beaten back by the level of international opprobrium, a march against homosexuality in Uganda last month attracted 2,000 supporters.
The British government is concerned by a wave of anti-gay sentiment sweeping Africa that has also put pressure on homosexual people in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria.
Besides rescinding the visa of the backbencher, other options considered have been blocking aid to the Ugandan government. The government has switched its strategy to individual visa blocking amidst signs that threats to withhold aid backfire.
Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe, chairman of the Malawi Council of Churches, has accused western donors of trying to use aid as a bait to force Malawi to legalise homosexuality.
British officials have already rescinded the visas of those involved in the Kenyan election riots and members of the Zimbabwean government.
The Guardian
