7th Parliament of Zimbabwe Mugabe announced his intention to open Parliament in the subsequent week, five months after the parliamentary election was held. Due to ongoing negotiations over the disputed election, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai party saw this as unacceptable, with MDC–T Secretary-General Tendai Biti stating that it would "be a clear repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of ZANU–PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks. In short, convening Parliament decapitates the dialogue." Nevertheless, Parliament was convened on 25 August 2008. That morning, Mugabe appointed 11 senators, including eight of the
LGBT rights in Zimbabwe Church in the 1980s and 90s, arguing that homosexuality is a sin and practising homosexuals could never be accepted into the church. His successor as bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, accused Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams of "heresy", and suggested he was "coming to lobby for homosexuality". Zimbabwe does not recognise same-sex marriage or civil unions. In 2013, the Zimbabwe Constitution was amended to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, from 1980 to 2017, has actively carried out actions against LGBT people and spoken out in public against homosexuality. Mugabe received worldwide criticism