Statement by H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of the Republic of ganda Responding to H.E. !

bama"s statement on Homose#uality

$%th &ebruary '($)

I have seen the statement H.E President Obama of the USA made in reaction to my statement that I was going to sign the anti-homosexua
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!i " which I made at #yan$wan%i.

!efore I react to H.E. Obama&s

statement" et me" again" 'ut on record my views on the issue of homosexua s (ebitiingwa, bisiyaga in some of our dialects). )ight from the beginning of this debate" my views were as fo ows* +. I agreed with the ,Ps and a most a Ugandans that 'romotion of homosexua ity in Uganda must be crimina i%ed or rather shou d continue to be crimina i%ed because the !ritish had a ready done that.. those who agreed to become homosexua s for mercenary reasons ('rostitutes/ shou d be harsh y 'unished as shou d those who 'aid them to be homosexua 'rostitutes- and

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exhibitionism of homosexua behavior must be 'unished because" in this 'art of the 1or d" it is forbidden to 'ub ic y exhibit any sexua conduct ($issing" etc/ even for heterosexua s- if I $issed my wife of 2+ years in 'ub ic" I wou d ose e ections in Uganda.
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3he on y 'oint I disagreed on with some of the ,embers of Par iament (,Ps/ and other Ugandans was on the 'ersons I thought were born homosexua . According to the casua observations" there are rare deviations in nature from the norma . 4ou witness cases i$e a binos (nyamagoye), barren women or men (enguumba), epa (breast ess women/ etc. I" therefore" thought that simi ar y there were 'eo' e that were born with the disorientation of being attracted to the same sex. 3hat is why I thought that that it was wrong to 'unish somebody on account of being born abnorma . 3hat is why I refused to sign the !i and" instead" referred it to our Party (the 5),/ to debate it again. In the meantime" I sought for scientific o'inions on this matter. I am gratefu to ,s. #erry #ennedy of the USA who sent me o'inions by scientists from the USA saying that there cou d be some indications that homosexua ity cou d be congenita . In our conference" I 'ut these o'inions to our scientists from the 6e'artment of 7enetics" the Schoo of ,edicine and the ,inistry of Hea th. 3heir unanimous conc usion was that homosexua ity" contrary to my ear ier thin$ing" was behavioura and not genetic. It was earnt and cou d be un earnt. I to d them to 'ut
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their signatures to that conc usion which they did.

3hat is why I I have now

dec ared my intention to sign the !i " which I wi do.

received their signed document" which says there is no sing e gene that has been traced to cause homosexua ity. 1hat I want them to c arify is whether a combination of genes can cause anybody to be homosexua . 3hen my tas$ wi be finished and I wi sign the !i .

After my statement to that effect which was 8uoted wide y around the 1or d" I got reactions from some friends from outside Africa. Statements i$e* 9it is a matter of choice: or 9whom they love: which President Obama re'eated in his statement wou d be most furious y re;ected by a most the entirety of our 'eo' e. It cannot be a matter of choice for a man to behave i$e a woman or vice-versa. 3he argument I had 'ushed was that there cou d be 'eo' e who are born i$e that or 9who they are:" according to President Obama&s statement. I" therefore" encourage the US government to he ' us by wor$ing with our Scientists to study whether" indeed" there are 'eo' e who are born homosexua . 1hen that is 'roved" we can review this egis ation. I wou d be among those who wi s'earhead that effort. 3hat is why I had refused to sign
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the !i

unti my 'remise was $noc$ed down by the 'osition of our

Scientists.

I wou d i$e to discourage the USA government from ta$ing the ine that 'assing this aw wi 9complicate our valued relationship: with the USA as President Obama said. <ountries and Societies shou d re ate with each other on the basis of mutua res'ect and inde'endence in decision ma$ing. 9=a ued re ationshi': cannot be sustainab y maintained by one Society being subservient to another society. 3here are a myriad acts the societies in the 1est do that we frown on or even detest. 1e" however" never comment on those acts or ma$e them 'reconditions for wor$ing with the 1est. Africans do not see$ to im'ose their views on anybody. 1e do not want anybody to im'ose their views on us. 3his very debate was 'rovo$ed by 1estern grou's who come to our schoo s and try to recruit chi dren into homosexua ity. rather than exacerbate it. I than$ everybody. 4oweri #. ,useveni 7en. ()td/
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It is better to imit the damage

PRESIDENT +>th ?ebruary .@+2.