Uganda president signs anti-LGBTQ bill, which includes death penalty provisions, into law | CBC News - Thomson Reuters:
May 29, 2023 - "Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has signed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality,' in defiance of Western condemnations and potential sanctions from aid donors. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes much further. It imposes capital punishment for some behaviour, including transmitting a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex, and stipulates a 20-year sentence for 'promoting' homosexuality.
"The Ugandan president has today legalized state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia," said Clare Byarugaba, a Ugandan rights activist. "It's a very dark and sad day for the LGBTIQ community, our allies and all of Uganda.' She and other activists have vowed to launch a legal challenge to the law.... One group of activists and academics later on Monday petitioned the constitutional court seeking an injunction against enforcement of the law.
"A less-restrictive 2014 anti-LGBTQ law was struck down by a domestic court on procedural grounds, after Western governments had initially suspended some aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security co-operation. Uganda receives billions of dollars in foreign aid each year and could now face another round of sanctions.
"The White House condemned the bill after it was first passed in March, and on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden ... said the U.S. National Security Council will be evaluating the implications on 'all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda,' including Washington's ability to safely deliver services under The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), its flagship HIV/AIDS program. In a joint statement on Monday, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said the law put Uganda's fight against HIV/AIDS 'in grave jeopardy'....
"The European Union reiterated a condemnation from March, while the United Nations human rights body said the law was a recipe for systematic violation of Ugandans' rights.... The British government said on Monday it was 'appalled' at the Ugandan government's new law and that it's firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.... Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly called the law 'abhorrent, cruel and unjust.'
"Uganda's move could encourage lawmakers in other countries on the continent to follow suit. 'We're seeing similar patterns in other countries in the region. We've seen attacks on LGBTQ people in Burundi, very hostile rhetoric in Kenya and Tanzania from public figures and on social media. It's been extremely hostile,' Human Rights Watch researcher Oryem Nyeko told CBC's The Current in March.
"Museveni had sent the original bill back to lawmakers, asking that they tone down some provisions. The amended version stipulated that merely identifying as LGBTQ is not a crime and revised a measure that obliged people to report homosexual activity to only require reporting when a child is involved."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/uganda-antigay-law-1.6857762
Ugandan President signs anti-gay Bill into Law | Citizen TV Kenya | May 29, 2023:
