Archbishop of Canterbury urges Ugandan church to reject new anti-gay law

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his “grief and dismay” at a Ugandan law banning homosexuality in a letter urging Church officials in the country to reject it.

Lead bishop Justin Welby wrote to Ugandan Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba publicly condemning Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. “I make this public statement with sorrow, and with continuing prayers for reconciliation between our churches and across the Anglican Communion,” he wrote.

“I am deeply aware of the history of colonial rule in Uganda, so heroically resisted by its people. But this is not about imposing Western values on our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers. It is about reminding them of the commitments we have made as Anglicans to treat every person with the care and respect they deserve as children of God,” Welby added.

The new law prohibites Ugandan citizens from advocating or promoting LGBTQ rights on top of already stringent laws against consensual same-sex intimacy. It also introduces a clause on “aggravated homosexuality”, defined as having sex with a minor or while HIV positive, which carries the death sentence.