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Uganda enacts a law that could punish the LGBTQ community with the death penalty
“We have stood firm to defend the culture, values and aspirations of our people,” declared the speaker of the African country’s Parliament, Anita Among.
The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has promulgated a law against homosexuality on Monday that allows offenders to be punished with tens of years in prison, life imprisonment and even the death penalty.
The president “has given his consent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023.
It now becomes the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023,” his office announced via Twitter.
For her part, the president of Parliament, Anita Among, declared that the country’s authorities “have paid attention to the concerns” of the “people and have legislated to protect the sanctity of the family.”
“We have stood firm to defend the culture, values and aspirations of our people,” he said.
It is a new wording of legislation that had already been approved by the majority of legislators, who defended it as a protection of national values.
In turn, Museveni had asked parliamentarians to redraft the bill so that it “does not scare” people who voluntarily renounce homosexuality and need “rehabilitation.”
Under the amended version, identifying as gay would not be a criminal act, however, “participating in acts of homosexuality” would be considered a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
Despite the fact that the president had spoken in favor of removing the option to make “aggravated homosexuality” a capital offense, lawmakers refused to do so, opening up the possibility of sentencing repeat offenders to death.
What is the law?
The controversial legislation includes a ban on promoting and instigating homosexuality, as well as on conspiring to commit homosexual acts.
Failure to comply with the law carries severe penalties, including the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality,” a term used in the bill to describe sexual acts committed without consent or under duress against children, persons with mental or physical disabilities, by a “serial offender” or involving incest.
In addition, sexual relations between people of the same sex are penalized with life imprisonment.
2023-05-29 23:30:31
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