Why kill them, when you can cure them?

Let me tell you a bit about Uganda, whose claim to fame before its government’s near homicidal hatred for homosexuals exploded into a global story, was Idi Amin Dada, who had near homicidal hatred for anyone who opposed him. The east African nation is debating whether gays are so bad as to be put to death or they deserve mercy and should only be sentenced to life.

Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister as well Information and Broadcasting Minister (yes, you read that right) James Nsaba Buturo says he prefers life imprisonment to death because that would allow authorities to rehabilitate gays.

“There have been a lot of discussions in government … regarding the proposed law, but we now think a life sentence could be better because it gives room for offenders to be rehabilitated. Killing them might not be helpful,” Buturo was quoted as saying. There, you have it. Why kill them when you can cure them?

Buturo, who had once tried to ban miniskirts, has responded to homosexuality and human rights with characteristic derision.  “Homosexuals can forget about human rights,” he has said.

For someone who is in charge of ethics, integrity, information and broadcasting taking this position on a section of the country’s population is so egregious one does not even know what to say.