Text of PA SR 285 (2014)
Condemning the recent passage of legislation in Uganda and Nigeria criminalizing same-sex relationships and organizations, and calling upon the leaders of those nations to repeal and reject those laws as gross violations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals' civil rights.
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As introduced
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PRINTER'S NO. 1749
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
285
Session of
2014
INTRODUCED BY WILLIAMS, FEBRUARY 4, 2014
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, FEBRUARY 4, 2014
A RESOLUTION
Condemning the recent passage of legislation in Uganda and
Nigeria criminalizing same-sex relationships and
organizations, and calling upon the leaders of those nations
to repeal and reject those laws as gross violations of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals'
civil rights.
WHEREAS, On December 20, 2013, the Parliament of Uganda
passed a law that would prescribe life imprisonment for repeated
consensual sexual acts between adults of the same gender; and
WHEREAS, The Parliament of Uganda also prescribed
imprisonment for failure to report lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender (LGBT) individuals and for performing same-sex
marriages; and
WHEREAS, On January 17, 2014, Ugandan President Yuweri
Museveni, who described LGBT individuals as "sick people who
need help," returned the legislation to Parliament for lack of a
quorum; and
WHEREAS, The Parliament of Uganda now has the ability to
either vote, with a full quorum, for the hateful legislation or
to reject it for its clear violations of basic civil rights; and
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WHEREAS, On January 7, 2014, Nigeria, Africa's most populous
and politically influential nation, also enacted the "Same-Sex
Marriage Prohibition Act," which criminalizes same-sex marriage,
as well as membership in or support of any LGBT organization;
and
WHEREAS, Police in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi
arrested and allegedly tortured dozens of men suspected of being
gay; and
WHEREAS, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan publicly
committed to alleviating the epidemic of HIV-AIDS, affecting 34
million Nigerians, while simultaneously signing into law the
discriminatory and counterproductive legislation; and
WHEREAS, HIV-AIDS programs established to assist the Nigerian
LGBT community, of which 17% are affected by HIV-AIDS, are now
effectively illegal; and
WHEREAS, United States Secretary of State John Kerry
denounced Nigeria's law for "dangerously restrict[ing] freedom
of assembly, association and expression for all Nigerians";
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate equally condemn, in the strongest
possible terms, both Uganda and Nigeria for their grave
violations of civil rights as pertain to LGBT citizens; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That the Senate strongly urge the full membership
of the Parliament of Uganda to vote down the vile and
discriminatory legislation, Ugandan President Yuweri Museveni to
veto the bill should it be passed by the Parliament of Uganda
once more and President Goodluck Jonathan to repeal Nigeria's
equally noxious prohibition on same-sex organizations and
relationships.
20140SR0285PN1749
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