Following a request from President Yoweri Museveni to soften some of the original legislation’s provisions, Uganda’s parliament passed a version of one of the strictest anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world that is largely unchanged.
Written by Chris Muhizi Minembwe Capital News 8:30pm kampala Nairobi time
The majority of the worst provisions of the legislation passed in March are still included in the bill despite four changes. Two of these, according to activists, may criminalize all support for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people: the death penalty for specific same-sex crimes and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.
A law that required gay activity to be reported has been changed to merely require reporting when children are present. Failure to do so carries a penalty of 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,150) in fines or five years in prison.
Museveni has 30 days to sign the bill into law, send it back to parliament for amendment, or veto it and notify the speaker of parliament. If the president sends the bill back to parliament a second time, it will become law without his approval.
According to parliament’s speaker, Anita Among, “Today, parliament has gone again into the history books of Uganda, Africa, and the world, [because it] clearly brought up the issue of homosexuality, the moral question, the future of our children, and protecting families.”
Adding that “no amount of intimidation will make us retract from what we have done,” she urged MPs to “remain steadfast” in their promises. Let’s be steadfast.
A previous anti-gay bill from 2014 also sparked strong opposition.
The bill has been denounced by the US, the European Union, and large corporations. The US government stated that it was evaluating the effects of the impending law on activities in Uganda under its flagship HIV/Aids program. Volker Türk, the UN’s chief of human rights, described the new bill as “shocking and discriminatory.”
Since “homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human sexuality,” a group of eminent scientists and academics from Africa and around the world urged Museveni to veto the bill last month.
371 lawmakers supported the bill as revised today. Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, an MP for the ruling party, abstained because he believed it violated the constitution. To vote on a bill, 170 MPs are required to be present.