'They’re calling for our extinction': Uganda activists call on EU to cut aid over anti-gay law
euronews.comLet's Walk Uganda', has been flooded with calls for help from the LGBT community for months, with people seeking advice on how to leave the country and go to Kenya -- although issues related to LGBT rights have also been at the centre of a recent debate in the neighbouring country."There’s one phone call I received which drew me to tears,” Mutebi said. “A boy of 17 who told his family he was gay and was thrown out of his home.
He’s now living in the street. But you can’t even engage as an organisation, this is a minor, and you’d be arrested.”Mutebi fears that an already terrible situation might soon get even worse. “ We’ve received stories of people being attacked, undressed, beaten up, and even castrated,” he said. “And that was before the bill was even passed. [...] We can’t see this happening in the modern era, that people can be put in prison for life just because they love each other.” One tactict that Mutebi thinks would make Uganda's government reconsider the laws is if the EU withdrew aid.
Stopping funds would "definitely be very helpful" in challenging the anti-gay policies, he said. Uganda, traditionally one of the largest recipients of international aid, has already seen its generous aid budget being significantly cut in 2014 after President Yoweri Museveni -- who was once seen as an example of enlightened African leadership -- signed a law which made homosexuality a crime punishable with life imprisonment in the East African country.
Initially, the bill -- known as the ‘kill-the-gays’ bill -- wanted homosexuality to be considered a crime punishable by death.
