Gays and lesbians in Uganda have accused President Yoweri Museveni's government of clamping down on "lawful and peaceful activities of human rights defenders" after police stopped a workshop for "sexual minorities."

The workshop held at Entebbe town, 25 kilometers from Kampala was held on Tuesday, a week after an MP re-introduced the Anti Homosexuality Bill in parliament.

MP David Bahati's 2009 bill seeks to impose stiff penalties on homosexuals.

Frank Mugisha, the executive director of Sex Minorities Uganda said State minister for Ethics and Integrity Reverend Father Simon Lokodo stormed into hotel room where they were holding the workshop accompanied by police.

"The minister walked into the hotel where we were holding a workshop and announced that the workshop was illegal and ordered the meeting to close immediately or else force would be used to end the meeting," he said.



He quoted the minister Lokodo saying: "I have closed this conference because it's illegal. We do not accept homosexuality in Uganda. So go back home."

Mugisha said they were "treated as criminals simply based on our sexual orientation and gender identity"

"What the minister and police did was meant to intimidate. What he did was unconstitutional," he added.



After closing the workshop, the minister reportedly ordered the arrest of Kasha Jacqueline Nabagasera, an executive director for Freedom and Roam.

But Kasha was whisked out of the hotel to safety by colleagues before police could pounce.



In a statement, groups representing homosexuals were an infringement on the constitution, The African Charter on Human and People's Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among other international human rights conventions. 



"These human rights instruments all robustly promote and protect the rights to freedom of speech, expression, association, assembly and the right to information of all citizens and human beings, without discrimination," read part of the statement.

"If the Anti-Homosexuality Bill becomes law, it would violate international human rights law and lead to further human rights violations."