President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Photograph by DFID
Uganda’s Parliament has passed a bill to punish acts of homosexuality with jail terms up to life in prison.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill not only criminalises homosexual acts, but also the “promotion” of homosexuality, which includes offering HIV counselling to those infected, making this one of the most wide-ranging anti-gay laws in the world.
Renting out an apartment to an LBGBT person and not informing the authorities of their sexual orientation will also become a crime under the new legislation, with offenders receiving up to five years in jail, essentially pushing many LBGT Ugandans towards homelessness.
Uganda has come under increasing pressure from Western governments over its treatment against LGBT people, but the Ugandan government has pushed forward with increasingly discriminatory policies despite threats of aid withdrawal. The bill may have lost its death penalty provision from the version proposed in 2009, but much of the rest of the homophobic bill remains in tact and is popular amongst the Ugandan public.
In contrast to the actions of Western governments, US evangelical Christian leaders have had a role in composing the law, and have close ties with promoters of the bill in Uganda. They believe that whilst they may have lost the fight against the “gay agenda” in the West, with most governments pushing for equality, they can still influence the agendas in countries like Uganda, which have mainatined their anti-gay laws since British imperial rule.
The bill will need to be signed by President Yoweri Museveni to come into effect.