Uganda Lawmakers Pass Bill With Death Penalty for Gay People

(Bloomberg) -- Ugandan lawmakers approved legislation with harsher penalties for violating laws outlawing homosexuality, including death and life-imprisonment sentences in certain cases.

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a critic of LGBTQ, must still sign the bill to become law.

The document lists violations it describes as aggravated homosexuality such as same-sex intercourse with persons under the age of 18 or when an offender is HIV positive, with these attracting the harshest punishments.

State minister for works and lawmaker, Musa Ecweru, in parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday said gay people “have no space in Uganda” in support of one of the most punitive anti-LGBTQ legislations in the world.

LGBTQ rights have come under increased pressure lately, with the Indian government opposing giving legal recognition for same-sex marriages amid of a Supreme Court hearing on the matter. In Kenya, President William Ruto bashed a pro-LGBTQ ruling by the nation’s top court, while Ghanaian lawmakers are considering acutely punitive legislation against gay people.

President Museveni “must urgently veto this appalling legislation,” Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said in a statement. “This deeply repressive legislation will institutionalize discrimination, hatred, and prejudice against LGBTI people, including those who are perceived to be LGBTI and block the legitimate work of civil society, public health professionals, and community leaders.”

The new bill comes more than eight years after an earlier version was quashed by the nation’s courts for procedural flaws. The overwhelming support for the bill was a recognition to safeguard the norms and aspirations of the people of Uganda, Speaker Anita Among said.

“The entire bill is draconian,” said Frank Mugisha, executive director of lobby group Sexual Minorities Uganda. “The death penalty, life in prison for consensual sex, reporting known LGBQ persons.”

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