Uganda fines radio station for gay talk show

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041004/80/f3ur9.html



KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda fined a radio station $1,000 (560 pounds) for hosting a talk show featuring a group of gay men, saying the program illegally encouraged homosexuality, the country's information minister says.


Simba FM, which broadcasts in the Luganda language, was also ordered to apologise to listeners, Ugandan Information Minister Nsaba Buturo said on Monday.


"We are a God-fearing country and homosexuality is illegal in Uganda," he told Reuters. "When you have an audience and you are in effect encouraging others to be homosexual, it causes a great deal of distress to the whole country."


Uganda is torn between an influential Christian lobby and a newfound sexual permissiveness, reflected in the raft of racy tabloid newspapers sold on the streets of the capital.


The East African country's Broadcasting Council said Simba FM's August 26 show breached standards laid out in the Electronic Media Act.


A spokesman for the Kampala-based radio station was not immediately available for comment.


Homosexuality remains a crime in Uganda, but Buturo said the four men, who went on air to protest against discrimination based on their sexual orientation, would not be prosecuted.


"I do not believe anything can happen to them," he said. "But this was a case where we felt the public good had to outweigh the individual good."