Uganda passes new law that will impose the death penalty on LGBTQ+ people

Uganda's parliament has passed a new law where LGBTQI+ people could face the death penalty.

BBC News reported that only two of the 389 legislators voted yesterday (March 21) against the controversial anti-homosexuality bill.

The proposal legislation would see homosexuals punished with death if they're caught in a sexual act.

The bill also criminalizes those who 'recruit, promote and fund' same-sex 'activities', which lawmakers say clash with the views and beliefs of the religious East African nation.

“A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality and is liable, on conviction to suffer death,” reads the bill, as per The Guardian.

Musa Ecweru, MP for Amuria District, addressed lawmakers, saying homosexuals will have 'no space in Uganda'.

Musa Ecweru, MP for Amuria District, credit: BBC. Christopher Bradshaw

Only two MPs from the ruling party, Fox Odoi-Oywelowo and Paul Kwizera Bucyana, refuted the bill.

According to Odoi-Oywelowo, the bill will target those already subject to violence and discrimination.

“The bill is ill-conceived, it contains provisions that are unconstitutional, reverses the gains registered in the fight against gender-based violence and criminalises individuals instead of conduct that contravenes all known legal norms,” said Odoi-Oywelowo, as per the outlet.

He added: “The bill doesn’t introduce any value addition to the statute book and available legislative framework."

The bill will now proceed to President Yoweri Museveni, who is expected to approve it, previously describing homosexuals as 'deviants'.

In addition to the death penalty for sexual acts, people who merely identify as LGBTQ+ can face jail terms of up to 10 years.

amer ghazzal / Alamy Stock Photo

The bill is the latest crackdown on the LGBTQI+ community in Africa.

More than 30 African countries already ban same-sex relations.

But the new law is the first to lead to the persecution of those merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, according to Human Rights Watch.

In 2014, Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which officially made it illegal to engage in sexual relations between persons of the same sex.

The bill was signed into law by President Museveni on 24 February 2014.

However, in August of that year, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.

Five months after the bill's introduction, Human Watch Rights reported that LGBT people faced a notable increase in arbitrary arrests, police abuse and extortion, loss of employment, evictions and homelessness.

“What the government is attempting should set off alarm bells among civil society groups in Uganda, and in the international community, as it signals increased repression and the stifling of opposition voices and civil society groups across the board," Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch said.