On Wednesdsay, the United Nations General Assembly selected Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, a vocal anti-gay activist, as the international body’s president for the 2014-2015 session, set to begin in September.
The former lawyer and politician defended Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s February enacting legislation that toughened punishments for gay sex to include life imprisonment for some homosexual acts. As Uganda’s top diplomat, Kutesa has responded to international condemnation of the law by saying that “the majority of Africans abhor this practice,” which is “wrong for our young people, and it offends our culture.”
While the president of the General Assembly serves a largely figurative role, Kutesa will preside over meetings that will decide the world’s post-2015 economic and social development agenda, as the eight Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 expire next year.
While UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has advocated for a repeal of Uganda’s anti-gay laws and has called for tolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, he congratulated Kutesa on his appointment.
Kutesa’s appointment has drawn condemnations from around the world. The Guardian observes that though Kutesa is “less virulent in his advocacy than Museveni – who has called gay people ‘disgusting’ – Kutesa said ‘the majority of Africans abhor this practice.'”
[Photo: Foreign Office / Flickr ]