WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A bill before the Ugandan Parliament that would outlaw homosexual acts would hurt the country's efforts to fight AIDS, a U.S. State Department official warned.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said Friday he has discussed the bill at two meetings with with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Voice of America reported. Earlier this month, he talked to Museveni when the president returned to Uganda from the Commonwealth Summit in Trinidad by way of the United States.
Carson met Friday with leaders of homosexual rights groups in the United States.
"We believe that this legislation is a violation of human rights, that it will undermine the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda, that it will stigmatize a community, and that ultimately it will harm and damage Uganda's human rights image and record," Carson said. "We believe this legislation is inappropriate, should be withdrawn and is not the kind of legislation that we wish to see in Uganda and, for that matter any other place."
Uganda's AIDS programs have been considered a model.
