Canada & the World

[Sheriff Roland]

I've heard from a friend very much involved in the HIV international community that Stephan Lewis is trying to ban Uganda from the British Commonwealth for introducing laws that would criminalize homosexuality, punishable by death (this article says 7 years imprisonment).

I haven't gotten the information to link this new wrinkle, gut the thing about criminalaiztion of homosexuality can be documented with the following article:

dated Oct. 15:

Uganda: ‘Anti-Homosexuality’ Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders

http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=&menu=1&item=1409

[Sheriff Roland]

Ha!

This article says Uganda is considering the death sentence for gay sex:

 dated Nov 29: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/uganda-death-sentence-gay-sex

Uganda considers death sentence for gay sex in bill before parliament
(subtitle: US evangelists are main activists behind measure)

Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda's parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a "person of authority" over the other partner, or if the "victim" is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.
...
Ahead of the meeting Stephen Lewis, a former UN envoy on Aids in Africa, said the law "makes a mockery of Commonwealth principles" and has "a taste of fascism" about it.

But within Uganda deeply-rooted homophobia, aided by a US-linked evangelical campaign alleging that gay men are trying to "recruit" schoolchildren, and that homosexuality is a habit that can be "cured", has ensured widespread public support for the bill.
...
Both opponents and supporters agree that the impetus for the bill came in March during a seminar in Kampala to "expose the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda".

The main speakers were three US evangelists: Scott Lively, Don Schmierer and Caleb Lee Brundidge. Lively is a noted anti-gay activist and president of Defend the Family International, a conservative Christian association, while Schmierer is an author who works with "homosexual recovery groups". Brundidge is a "sexual reorientation coach" at the International Healing Foundation.

[Sheriff Roland]

In the similar vein (the reason for the oddness of the title of the thread) ...

Canada has been called upon, by some European (fringe groups, no doubt), to be barred from the British Commonwealth for not meeting it's emission-reduction targets from the Kyoto accord, for which it signed.

Again, I'm not finding the desired links yet - and I don't remember exactly where I heard of this.