On Tuesday, Uganda’s parliament passed legislation making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, giving authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who are already subjected to legal discrimination and mob violence.
Over 30 African countries, including Uganda, already prohibit same-sex relationships. According to Human Rights Watch, the new law appears to be the first to criminalize simply identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ).
Supporters of the new law argue that it is necessary to punish a broader range of LGBTQ activities, which they claim threaten traditional values in the conservative and religious East African country.
Aside from same-sex intercourse, the law prohibits promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiring to engage in homosexuality.
Violations of the law are punishable by death for so-called aggravated homosexuality and life in prison for gay sex. 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.
“Our creator God is pleased with what is happening… I support the bill to safeguard our children’s future “During the bill’s debate, lawmaker David Bahati stated.
“This is about our nation’s sovereignty; nobody should blackmail or intimidate us.”
The bill will be sent to President Yoweri Museveni for signature.
The legislation, according to Frank Mugisha, a prominent Ugandan LGBTQ activist, is draconian.
“This law is extremely draconian… it criminalizes being LGBTQ, but they are also attempting to erase the entire existence of any LGBTQ Ugandan,” he said.
Museveni has not commented on the current proposal, but he has long been opposed to LGBTQ rights, signing an anti-LGBTQ law in 2013 that was condemned by Western countries before a domestic court overturned it on procedural grounds.
Ugandan authorities have cracked down on LGBTQ people in recent weeks after religious leaders and politicians claimed that students were being recruited into homosexuality in schools.
Authorities arrested a secondary school teacher in Jinja’s eastern district earlier this month on suspicion of “grooming of young girls into unnatural sex practices.”
She was later charged with gross indecency and is currently incarcerated awaiting trial.
On Monday, police said they had arrested six people suspected of running a network “actively involved in the grooming of young boys into acts of sodomy.”
