Uganda has another anti-LGBT bill in the works, despite same-sex relations already being heavily illegal in the conservative East African nation.
In 2014, Ugandan lawmakers, under the urging of a few American lobbyists, passed a bill that imposed life imprisonment as a sentence for people convicted of having gay sex. This was toned down from its original writing, which called for the death sentence. It was struck down by the courts on a technicality a year later, but the attempt materially damaged Uganda, as nations who had formerly provided aid froze or redirected their funds.
Uganda’s president Museveni, who has ruled the country for 37 years despite many calls for elections, called this response an imposition by the Western world. He criticized Western sanctions as undue pressure.
“Europeans and other groups marry cousins and near relatives. Here, marrying in one’s clan is taboo. Should we impose sanctions on them for marrying relatives? This is not our job,” he added.
“Western countries should stop wasting the time of humanity by trying to impose their practices on other people,” Museveni said about his proposed law to impose his practices on other people. His address on Thursday was attended only by his supporters, with the opposition party lawmakers boycotting it in a human rights protest. It’s as dangerous to be opposed to Museveni’s dictatorship as it is to be LGBT, with illegal detentions and disappearances.
The bill, which may come to vote as soon as Tuesday, comes after a new wave of conspiracies pushing the idea that Western infiltrators have intentionally interfered with Uganda’s youth to ‘push’ homosexuality among them for predatory reasons. It offers a 10 year prison sentence for anyone in Uganda convicted of consensual same-sex relations or of identifying as gay, transgender, or any form of LGBTQ.
Uganda does not have a conviction for same-sex relations since independence from Britain in 1962, but has many of the strictest laws against it on their books, which leaves a blade hanging precariously over the heads of the Ugandan LGBT community.
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