The Ugandan Parliament passed a controversial anti-homosexuality bill last night. According to this, those who indulge in homosexuality will have to undergo severe punishments. The bill was passed in Parliament with overwhelming support. Homosexuality was already illegal in the country.
According to the new law, offenders will face severe punishments such as life imprisonment or the death penalty
Fox Odoi-Oyewelowo, an MP from President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party, who spoke out against the bill, told AFP. The bill passed by Parliament will next be signed into law by President Museveni. But the President can also not sign it.
Response
The bill received massive public support in Uganda. But the president has not prioritized the issue, instead trying to maintain good relations with Western donors and investors. Last week, President Museveni described gay people as ‘misguided’. ‘Homosexuals are deviant from normal life. But why? Is it natural or is it a habit? We need to find answers to these questions,” he said. ‘We need the opinion of the health sector about it. It will be thoroughly discussed,’ he added.
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Christoph Titeka, an expert on East African affairs at the University of Antwerp, told AFP that “Museveni has taken into account the rifts caused by the bill, both in terms of Uganda’s relations with the West and in terms of financing.”
On Saturday, Uganda’s Attorney General Kiryoa Kiwanuka told a parliamentary committee that existing laws ‘prescribe punishments adequately for the crime. The punishments meted out to homosexuals under colonial laws are notorious. But after gaining independence from Britain in 1962, consensual homosexuality was not punished in the country.
In 2014, Ugandan lawmakers passed a bill that would make homosexuality punishable by life in prison. Most countries have condemned this legislation. Some Western countries responded by freezing millions of dollars in government aid. The law was later struck down by the court.
Other countries where homosexuality is a crime
There are 69 countries that have laws that criminalize homosexuality. According to a BBC report, more than half of them are in Africa. Many countries have tried to repeal this law. Angola’s President Joao Lourenco passed a new law in February 2021 recognizing same-sex couples and banning discrimination based on sex.
In June last year, Gabon repealed a law that criminalized homosexuality, punishable by six months in prison and heavy fines. In 2019, the Botswana High Court also ruled in favor of decriminalizing homosexuality. In recent years, Mozambique and Seychelles have repealed anti-homosexuality laws.
However, many countries, notably Nigeria and Uganda, have strengthened existing anti-homosexuality laws. In early 2020, a court in Singapore rejected an attempt to overturn a law banning gay sex. In May 2019, the High Court of Kenya upheld a law criminalizing homosexuality.
Countries where homosexuality is punishable by death
As of December 2022, 68 countries around the world have criminalized homosexuality. Most of these countries are located in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 11 of these countries homosexuality is punishable by death. These countries are Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.