Uganda's LGBTQ muny is ' shock' over new measure, gay activist says

Contents:

• UGANDAN GAY PEOPLE 'ABED BY POLICE'
• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• ‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• UGANDA PASS STRICT ANTI-GAY BILL THAT IMPOS DEATH PENALTY FOR SOME
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN KAMPALA, UGANDA
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY
• NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)

UGANDAN GAY PEOPLE 'ABED BY POLICE'

Homosexual acts are illegal Uganda and there are plans to troduce new harsher 's ternal affairs mister said the allegatns were not te but his office would look at the Nyakairima told the BBC that the Ugandan ernment did not discrimate agast 27-page report entled Where Do We Go for Jtice? Said officers routely refed to look to s reported by gay men and found several stanc when the police stead turned agast them bee of their sexualy, chargg them wh crim such as cent exposure, sodomy and havg sex agast the orr of were harassed to signg false and self-crimatg statements and some of the 21 people terviewed by rearchers also talked of beg beaten by the police or prison said they were forced to have their rectums and genals source, AFPImage ptn, Many Ugandans oppose gay rights and support tougher legislatnPeople tentn on homosexualy-related charg were also sometim parad ont of the media and arbrarily nied bail, the report is a eply nservative society where many people oppose gay BBC's Cathere Byahanga the pal, Kampala, says Uganda has e unr ternatnal prsure the last few years over attempts to further crimalise sexual Augt, an Anti-Homosexualy Act signed by the print Febary 2014 was annulled by the Constutnal Court as said that parliament lacked a quom when was passed. That legislatn would have allowed for life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexualy", cludg sex wh a mor or while HIV-posive, and for enterg to a same-sex had also proposed a prison sentence of up to seven years or a fe or both for the promotn of homosexualy.

Homosexual acts are already illegal Uganda but this bill troduc many new crimal well as makg merely intifyg as gay illegal for the first time, iends, fay and members of the muny would have a duty to report dividuals same-sex relatnships to the was passed wh wispread support Uganda's parliament on Tuday eveng.

UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY

The bill's backers say they are tryg to protect children but Ms Byagaba said: "Whether you're heterosexual or homosexual, the ernment and parliament should troduce laws, or at least implement existg laws that protect all children - boys, girls om filement. The fal versn has yet to be officially published but elements discsed parliament clu: A person who is nvicted of groomg or traffickg children for purpos of engagg them homosexual activi fac life prisonIndividuals or stutns which support or fund LGBT rights' activi or anisatns, or publish, broadst and distribute pro-gay media material and lerature, also face prosecutn and imprisonmentMedia groups, journalists and publishers face prosecutn and imprisonment for publishg, broadstg, distributn of any ntent that advot for gay rights or "promot homosexualy"Death penalty for what is scribed as "aggravated homosexualy", that is sexual abe of a child, a person wh disabily or vulnerable people, or s where a victim of homosexual asslt is fected wh a life-long illnsProperty owners also face risk of beg jailed if their premis are ed as a "brothel" for homosexual acts or any other sexual mori rights' activiA small group of Ugandan MPs on a mtee sctisg the bill disagreed wh s premise. They argue the offenc seeks to crimalise are already vered the untry's Penal Co 2014, Uganda's nstutnal urt nullified another act which had toughened laws agast the LGBT clud makg illegal to promote and fund LGBT groups and activi, as well as reeratg that homosexual acts should be punished by life imprisonment, and was wily nmned by Wtern urt led that the legislatn be revoked bee had been passed by parliament whout the required quom.

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league. Bisexual men are perceived to sound more mascule than men who are straight, acrdg to a study of Atralian subjects.Amics at the Universy of Sydney pared the voic of gay, straight and bisexual men a study volvg 160 people.In the rearch led by clil psychologist Jam Morandi, people were reced to analyse the voic of 60 men, 20 of whom were gay, 20 straight and 20 bisexual. They were then asked to rate the men on their sexual orientatn g a sle om zero (exclively heterosexual) to 10 (exclively homosexual).Listeners were also asked to rate each man’s perceived level of femy or masculy the voic on a siar sle.The men volved the study were asked to rerd themselv on a smartphone recg the first two l of the Atralian natnal anthem.Voice sampl were then modified to remove any background noise while volume levels were ma the same to ensure nsistency.Rults om the study showed listeners uld distguish between gay and straight men’s voic wh an accuracy of 62 per cent, apparently nsistent wh prev rearch.However, the study participants uld not terme any differenc between bisexual and straight men’s voic wh any gree of accuracy.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

The thors said their rearch showed bisexual men’s voic were perceived as beg more exclively attracted to women pared wh both gay and straight men’s voic.Bisexual men’s voic were rated as more mascule than both gay and straight men’s voic.Rearchers claimed the abily to intify a man’s bisexual inty om his voice alone uld have cril social implitns such as helpg to rce feelgs of alienatn.‘Voice may unter visibily many bisexuals feel’An abstract of the study, tled Can listeners tect if a man is bisexual om his voice alone, reads: “The prent study examed whether bisexual men n be intified om their voic ak to how gay men n be intified on their voice alone.“If this is the se, voice may be an important target of discrimatn on the one hand but may also unter the visibily many bisexuals feel (if their bisexual inti n be apprehend by their voice alone, whout explic disclosure required).“The fdgs may also she light on whether bisexual male voic, like gay male voic, differ om straight voic terms of their genr non-nformy – a qutn that to date has not been examed.”But amics noted the rearch was limed on the grounds all men who participated the study are Atralian, which may not be reflected among wir cultur.And the thors nced the study did not ntrol for the rerdg environment or microphone-to-mouth distance, which uld have affected the qualy of the voice sampl.The thors said the fdgs suggted that while the voic of bisexual men the sample were perceived as more mascule and attracted to femal, listeners did not associate this imprsn wh bisexualy.As a rult, while bisexual men may appear to be at lower risk of facg voice-based intifitn and discrimatn than gay men, they may often be mistaken as beg straight.The study was published the Journal of Sex Rearch.

Uganda is one of several Ain natns where is illegal to be queer; the natn enacted s Anti-Homosexualy Act 2014, which allowed for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts between nsentg adults, and dified the reprsn of LGBTQ Ugandans. The latt bill, ially passed by parliament March, tak Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ polici much further, punishg LGBTQ advocy wh up to 20 years prison and proposg the ath penalty for “aggravated homosexualy” — homosexual acts volvg children or members of other at-risk groups, or volvg a person who is HIV posive.

Uganda was already hostile to LGBTQ people, even before the 2014 Anti-Homosexualy Act; lonial fluence was baked to the penal , and a 2009 bill lloquially lled the “kill the gays” bill sparked ternatnal outrage for a provisn that would allow gay people to be hanged.

‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW

The bill also required cizens to spy on their neighbors, iends, and fay members and report those they spected of beg LGBTQ or advotg for gay rights or face a three-year prison sentence, acrdg to a Human Rights Watch report at the time. The 2023 bill also appli to trans and genr-nonnformg people, punishg wh up to 10 years prison anyone who “holds out as a lbian, gay, transgenr, a queer, or any other sexual or genr inty that is ntrary to the bary tegori of male and female. In realy, the US particular has fluenced or supported anti-LGBTQ polici and attus Uganda, particularly via evangelil groups like the Fellowship Foundatn, which had a hand craftg the 2009 “kill the gays” bill, acrdg to a 2020 report om Open Democracy.

“The prodigal son parable has propped up the ex-gay movement Uganda, ensurg there are open arms to gay people who n speak about prevly beg that life of ‘s’ and nounce their gayns publicly, ” Okereke wrote. Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, 24, a gay man om Uganda, a safe hoe Otieno for The New York TimIn a spartan safehoe wh flimsy curtas and no furnure northwt of the Kenyan pal, Nairobi, people om neighborg Uganda clung to the few valuabl they uld snatch while fleeg harsh new legislatn targetg them back home. A lbian uple clenched the one smartphone that held photos om happier days, gog on dat and dancg began leavg after Uganda’s Parliament passed a sweepg anti-gay bill late March that threatens punishment as severe as ath for some perceived offens, and lls for life prison for anyone engagg same-sex relatns.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

“The ernment and the people of Uganda are agast our existence, ” said Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, a 24-year-old who fled wh a sgle backpack days after a hostile crowd, cludg children, rnered him as he bought groceri near a gay shelter the pal, Kampala.

Last month, lawmakers om more than a dozen Ain untri gathered Uganda and promised to troduce or pass measur their own untri that they said would protect the sancty of the fay and children agast “the s of homosexualy.

UGANDA PASS STRICT ANTI-GAY BILL THAT IMPOS DEATH PENALTY FOR SOME

And while anti-gay rhetoric has long existed Uganda, has taken a severe turn the past year, wh thori removg rabow lors om a park and parents chargg to a school bee they thought a gay person tght latt move to target L.

And anti-abortn stanc, acrdg to the Southern Poverty Law Ugandan bill has drawn nmnatn om human rights groups and the Uned Natns, and the Bin admistratn has lled “one of the most extreme” anti-gay measur anywhere the world. The East Ain natn, a close secury ally of the Uned Stat, receiv more than $950 ln annually health and velopment months of mpaigng agast , gay rights activists Uganda are now planng to challenge the measure urt if is signed.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN KAMPALA, UGANDA

In terviews, more than a dozen gay Ugandans who had fled to Kenya scribed how their iends, fay and neighbors turned agast them over the past year, as renewed anti-gay sentiment swept over the nservative Parliament, lawmakers promoted the basels allegatn that there was a plot to promote homosexualy schools. In the streets, Mlims marched agast them, and Christian church, clerics urged ngregants to rema watchful about efforts to lure their children to Augt, the thori took their most drastic actn yet when they closed Sexual Mori Uganda, the untry’s leadg gay rights Parliament adopted the bill March, dozens of L.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

” It would also “jeopardize” Uganda’s progrs toward endg AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, the statement Ugandan bill is already spirg others across the ntent, cludg Kenya, where a recent Supreme Court cisn had allowed gay rights groups to register legally — a lg that has drawn vol cricism om the print and others. -- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar suatns.It's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn."I don't want to feel like I have to thk about anymore," Maxen said the piece published Thursday afternoon.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Members of Uganda’s LGBTQ muny are shock and fear beg arrted after Parliament passed a measure that would make a crime to intify as gay and impose tough sentenc that clu the ath penalty certa s, an activist said “Anti-Homosexualy Bill, 2023” was passed wh a near-unanimo majory by lawmakers  the east Ain untry, where anti-gay sentiment ns ep. Ronald Kabuubi / APThe legislatn will next be sent to Print Yoweri Meveni, who has repeatedly nounced homosexualy, to be signed to Mugisha, one of a few Ugandans who live openly as gay, told Rters he was sred the measure would trigger “mass arrts of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer persons and mob vlence toward LGBTQ muni. There’s gog to be a lot of trma and s of mental health that will lead to a lot of suici, ” he relatns were already illegal Uganda, but supporters of the new law say is need to punish a broar array of LGBTQ activi, which they say threaten tradnal valu the nservative and relig East Ain measure clus steep sentenc that clu ath for “aggravated homosexualy” and life prison for same-sex relatns.

Acrdg to the bill, the ath penalty n be voked for s volvg “aggravated homosexualy” – a broad term ed the legislatn to scribe sex acts mted whout nsent or unr durs, agast children, people wh mental or physil disabili, by a “serial offenr, ” or volvg ct. “A person who ms the offense of aggravated homosexualy and is liable, on nvictn to suffer ath, ” read the amendments, which were prented by the chairperson for legal and parliamentary affairs Roba Rwakoojo. Opposn lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa troduced the Anti Homosexualy Bill 2023 to parliament, sayg aims to “protect our church culture; the legal, relig and tradnal fay valu of Ugandans om the acts that are likely to promote sexual promiscuy this untry.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

It passed by a vote of 387 to Lubowa/RtersLawmakers Uganda have passed a sweepg anti-gay law that n brg punishments as severe as the ath penalty — the culmatn of a long-nng mpaign to crimalize homosexualy and target L.

Even tryg to have same-sex relatns would be met wh a seven-year prison ath penalty would be applied to people nvicted of “aggravated homosexualy, ” a sweepg term fed the law as homosexual acts mted by anyone fected wh H. Most of the acts are already crim regardls of genr unr the Ugandan penal , but the ath penalty has been add to this bill to target s which the perpetrator and victim are of the same parliamentary vote ps a stggle over gay rights Uganda that has drawn ternatnal attentn for nearly 15 years.

It as anti-gay polici and discrimatn have been on the rise several Ain natns, cludg Kenya, Ghana and legislatn Uganda, lled the Anti-Homosexualy Bill, also impos a penalty of up to 1 billn Ugandan shillgs, about $264, 000, on any enty nvicted of promotg homosexualy. ”“This hoe will ntue to pass laws that regnize, protect and safeguard the sovereignty, morals and cultur of this untry, ” Ana An Among, the speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, said after legislators fished bill will now go to Print Yoweri Meveni, Uganda’s lear for nearly four s, who has been an outspoken driver of anti-gay measur. Katumba/Agence France-Prse — Getty ImagThe bill’s passg was sharply cricized by rights groups and by a few lawmakers Uganda who said that ged on the eedoms of Ugandans and further erod the rights of gay Türk, the Uned Natns human rights chief, lled the anti-gay law “probably among the worst of s kd the world” and said that uld “serve to ce people agast each other.

NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)

Around the world, a ath penalty sentence for same-sex relatns is imposed only a handful of untri, cludg Iran and Mrania, acrdg to a survey by Human Rights bill was troduced early March by the lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa, who has said that homosexualy threatens fay valu and the safety of Ugandan children.

Basalirwa doubled down, sayg the law was need bee there was a “public outcry” over a plot to rec schoolchildren to homosexualy — an allegatn that rights advot have said is Uganda, a untry of about 46 ln people — about 85 percent Christian and 15 percent Mlim — relig lears have jotly veighed agast homosexualy and what they say is s impact on the sancty of fay and children. Many relig lears say that homosexualy is a Wtern import and have held protts and ralli urgg legislators to troduce laws that would harshly penalize gay even as anti-gay sentiment Uganda has bee pervasive, L.