Uganda has passed one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws, including Anti-Gay Law Signed In Uganda, Death Penalty Included.
Late last month, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the law that would criminalize identifying as LGBTQ+. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 countries in the African continent.
Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has signed into law the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts.
— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) May 30, 2023
The new law imposes capital punishment for some behaviour, including transmitting a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex, and stipulates a… pic.twitter.com/kjft5sOEEA
But Uganda’s new law goes further, as it mandates the death penalty for “serial offenders” who violate the law and transmit a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through homosexual activity. Additionally, the law imposes a 20-year prison sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.
“The Ugandan president has today legalized state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia,” said Ugandan rights activist Clare Byarugaba, opposing the draconian new law.
President Joe Biden called the move “a tragic violation” of human rights and said the White House would evaluate the implications of the law “on all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda.”
“The enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act is a tragic violation of universal human rights — one that is not worthy of the Ugandan people, and one that jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the entire country,” Biden said in a statement. “This shameful Act is the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption in Uganda.”
Following the law’s passage, a local organization called Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, along with 10 individuals, filed a complaint against the law at the constitutional court, according to Busingye Kabumba, one of the petitioners.
Although Museveni had requested some provisions to be toned down when he initially sent the bill back to parliament after its passage in March, there was little doubt that he would ultimately approve it. Uganda is a conservative country where anti-LGBTQ sentiments have intensified in recent years, partly influenced by Western evangelical church groups’ campaigns.
The law has also encouraged lawmakers in neighboring countries such as Kenya and Tanzania to impose similar measures.
“What a leader we’ve in Africa!” tweeted George Kaluma, a Kenyan member of parliament who submitted an anti-LGBTQ bill in April. “Kenya is following you in this endeavor to save humanity.”
Uganda receives billions of dollars in foreign aid each year, and as in the case of a similar bill nine years ago, it could now face negative repercussions from donors and investors.
