Uganda: Uganda’s parliament enacted a measure on Tuesday criminalising LGBTQ identity, giving authorities new tools to punish Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. Around 30 African countries, including Uganda, already prohibit same-sex relationships. According to Human Rights Watch, the new law looks to be the first to criminalise just identifying as homosexual, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ).
Violations of the law are punishable by death
Advocates of the new law argue that it is necessary to punish a broader range of LGBTQ acts, which they claim endanger traditional values in the conservative and religious East African country. Apart from same-sex intercourse, the legislation prohibits advocating and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiring to engage in homosexuality. Violations of the law are punishable by death for aggravated homosexuality and life in jail for gay intercourse. According to the law, aggravated homosexuality includes gay sex with people under the age of 18 or when the perpetrator is HIV positive, among other things.
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Cracked down on LGBTQ people
The bill will be delivered to President Yoweri Museveni for signature. Museveni has not commented on the present plan, but he has always been opposed to LGBTQ rights, signing an anti-Gay bill in 2013 that was blasted by Western countries before a home court overturned it on procedural grounds. Ugandan authorities have recently cracked down on LGBTQ people after religious leaders and politicians claimed that pupils were being seduced into homosexuality in schools.
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