Uganda: Uganda’s Parliament has passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that would make homosexual acts punishable by death, invoking strong opposition from rights campaigners.

About 389 legislators voted in favour of the anti-homosexuality bill, which imposes capital and life imprisonment sentences for gay sex and “recruitment, promotion, and funding” of same-sex “activities”.

The bill presented by Ms. Robina Rwakoojo, the chairperson for legal and parliamentary affairs, stated that “a person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality is liable, on conviction, to suffer death.”

Only two MPs from the ruling party, Mr. Fox Odoi-Oywelowo and Mr. Paul Kwizera Bucyana, opposed the new legislation.

“The bill is ill-conceived, it contains provisions that are unconstitutional, it reverses the gains registered in the fight against gender-based violence, and it criminalises individuals instead of punishing conduct that contravenes all known legal norms,” Mr. Odoi-Oywelowo commented.

“The bill doesn’t introduce any value addition to the statute book or available legislative framework,” the legislator added.

The bill will be sent to President Mr. Yoweri Museveni, who can veto it or sign it into law. In a recent speech, the President expressed his support for the bill.

The bill marks the latest in a string of setbacks for LGBTQ+ rights in Africa, where homosexuality is illegal in most countries. In Uganda, a largely conservative Christian country, homosexuality is already punishable by life imprisonment.

Several human rights activists have condemned the new move to enact the harsh law, describing it as “hate legislation.”

Earlier in March 2022, authorities arrested a secondary school teacher in the eastern Ugandan district of Jinja over accusations of “grooming of young girls into unnatural sex practices.”

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