Kerry likens Uganda anti-gay law to anti-Semitism and apartheid
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday likened new anti-gay legislation in Uganda that imposes harsh penalties for homosexuality to anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa.
"You could change the focus of this legislation to black or Jewish and you could be in 1930s Germany or you could be in 1950s-1960s apartheid South Africa," Kerry told a group of reporters. "It was wrong there egregiously in both places and it is wrong here," he added.
Kerry said the legislation signed by President Yoweri Museveni on Monday was "atrocious" and expressed concern at mounting discrimination against gays in 78 countries around the world.
Homosexuality is a taboo in almost all Africa countries and illegal in 37, including in Uganda where it has been criminalized since British colonial rule.
The new law, however, threatens to exact harsher treatment for offenders and makes it a crime to fail to report anyone who breaks the law, human rights activists say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/27/us-usa-uganda-kerry-idUSBREA1Q03U20140227
