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

Contents:

• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• UGANDA PASSED ONE OF THE WORLD’S HARSHT ANTI-GAY LAWS. LGBTQ PEOPLE SCRIBE LIVG THERE AS ‘HELL’
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
• NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
• UGANDA TO JAIL PEOPLE WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ANTI-GAY LAWS
• UGANDA ANNOUNC ‘KILL THE GAYS’ LAW IMPOSG ATH PENALTY ON HOMOSEXUALS
• ANTI-GAY BIGOTS PLUNGE AI TO NEW ERA OF HATE CRIM

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

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. 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. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, LGBT Ugandan refuge who fled the untry due to persecutn, pictured here 2018Ugandan officials have banned a proment LGBT rights group a major setback for the muny Mori Uganda (Smug) has been orred to shut down wh "immediate effect" for not registerg properly wh mpaign group cried the orr as a "clear wch hunt" by the ernment agast LGBT mori face wispread persecutn Uganda, where anti-gay and transphobic views are relatnships are illegal Uganda, where they n be punished by up to life prison for mtg "unnatural offenc. "Although there are no laws specifilly crimalisg beg transgenr Uganda, trans people are regularly prosecuted for other offenc cludg "personatn" (false reprentatn), acrdg to reports piled by rights s tablishment almost two s ago, Smug has mpaigned for the rights of LGBT people Uganda by promotg accs to health servic and supportg members of the LGBT muny to live has also taken legal actn to protect gay people om hostily, cludg 2010 when succsfully petned a Ugandan judge to orr a newspaper to stop publishg the nam and photographs of gay Ugandan men unr the headle "hang them" group said several of s members had been attacked or harassed as a rult of the article - cludg one woman who was almost killed when her neighbours began throwg ston at her the time, Ugandan policians were preparg to bate whether or not to troduce the ath penalty for same-sex relatnships - a legislative amendment that attracted wispread ternatnal nmnatn before eventually beg dropped.

What's TeA Ugandan ernment mister announced an tentn to make homosexualy punishable by ath October 2019; the Natnal Christian Foundatn has fund projects that opposed LGBT rights Uganda; and the WShape Foundatn, closely lked to Chick-fil-A, has fund the Natnal Christian Foundatn. What's FalseHowever, the Ugandan mister did not signal an tent to legalize the murr of LGBT people, and his remarks were quickly ntradicted by the ernment; also, 's not clear to what extent Natnal Christian Foundatn-fund enti were volved the creatn or promotn of a bill to make homosexualy punishable by ath. “Homosexualy is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recment by gay people schools, and pecially among the youth, where they are promotg the falsehood that people are born like that, ” Ethics and Integry Mister Simon Lokodo told the Thomson Rters Foundatn.

UGANDA PASSED ONE OF THE WORLD’S HARSHT ANTI-GAY LAWS. LGBTQ PEOPLE SCRIBE LIVG THERE AS ‘HELL’

Until or unls Lokodo issu a retractn of his remarks, or further clarifitn is forthg, is simply not clear what the Ugandan ernment's rolved tentns are, as of October 2019, regardg the possible troductn of the ath penalty as a punishment for homosexual acts. David Behati — who first troduced the Anti-Homosexualy Bill 2009 and was a key player the ensug mpaign — scribed to Sharlet the fluence of a ntroversial Amerin Christian nservative movement known lloquially as "The Fellowship" and "The Fay" visg and enuragg the legislatn, cludg at the early stag when still clud a ath penalty provisn. Same-sex relatns were already illegal Uganda, but a new law go much further, cludg life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and, some s, mandat the ath Stephanie Sy reports, the new provisns have upend the liv of gay Ugandans, who now feel danger.

'Uganda's Print Yoweri Meveni has signed one of the world's tought anti-LGBTQ laws, cludg the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexualy, " fiance of Wtern nmnatns and potential sanctns om aid relatns were already illegal Uganda, as more than 30 Ain untri, but the new law go much impos pal punishment for some behavur, cludg transmtg a termal illns like HIV/AIDS through gay sex, and stipulat a 20-year sentence for "promotg" homosexualy.

However, Alex Kofi Donkor, founr of LGBT+ Rights Ghana, says what happened Uganda is 'barbaric, ' and that people should not be crimalized for their and other activists have vowed to lnch a legal challenge to the law, which Meveni was shown signg at his sk wh a goln pen a photo tweeted by Uganda's 78-year-old lear has lled homosexualy a "viatn om normal" and urged lawmakers to rist "imperialist" prsure. Print's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), s flagship HIV/AIDS activists Uganda ' shock' over anti-gay legislatn, fearg mass arrtsAnti-LGBTQ bill passed Uganda ed as 'low-hangg u' to distract public, rearcher saysIn a jot statement on Monday, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Jot Uned Natns Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said the law put Uganda's fight agast HIV/AIDS " grave jeopardy.

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

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. While many nsired the actns to be tantamount to the genoci of “homosexuals, ” sexual orientatn is not one of the creria ed to fe the groups protected by the Conventn on the Preventn and Punishment of the Crime of Genoci (Uned Natns 1948) Conventn specifi that actns taken wh tent to stroy a group based on race, ethnicy, natnaly, or relign may be nsired genoci. Usg fdgs om amic rearch, we intify factors related to genoci and terme whether they are relevant to the proposed e of pal punishment Uganda agast “homosexuals;” that is, people who engage same-sex sexual 2009 “Anti-Homosexualy” Bill UgandaThe dranian “anti-homosexualy” bill proposed Uganda has been wily cricized sce s troductn Parliament by member David Bahati October 2009 (Strand 2011; see also discsn by Cobb, this volume).

In 2005, the Ugandan nstutn was amend to clu a clse prohibg same-sex marriage (Mujuzi 2009) “anti-homosexualy” bill troduced 2009, however, proposed makg the crime of “homosexualy” punishable by life imprisonment, and the crime of “aggravated homosexualy” punishable by ath (Law Library of Congrs 2011). “Homosexualy” is fed as the missn of one of three acts: (1) when a male perat the mouth or an of another male wh his penis or any other sexual ntraptn (emphasis add), (2) when a male or female an object or sexual ntraptn to perate or stimulate the sexual an of a person of the same sex, or (3) a male or female touch another person wh the tentn of mtg the act of homosexualy (Bahati 2009).

A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED

Th, the law uld be applied agast people who engage sexual activy wh a member of the same sex who has a physil disabily, such as a severe limp, th expandg ernmental ntrol over the populatn and allowg greater abily to jtify prosecutn of gays and lbians when no parable prohibns ern the same behavr by heterosexuals. Rather than requirg the ath penalty, however, the current proposal remends punishment up to 14 years for “willfully and tentnally transm[tg] HIV to another person” (Human Rights Watch 2009), “aggravated homosexualy” clus havg same-sex relatns wh a person unr the perpetrator’s “thory” (as fed the bill, “havg power and ntrol over other people bee of your knowledge and official posn; and shall clu a person who exercis relig, polil, enomic, or social thory” (Bahati 2009, p. The nebulo e of the terms would give the Ugandan ernment signifint power chargg and prosecutg s cizens wh “aggravated homosexualy” and sentencg them to ath, yet the sexual relatnships are not currently illegal Uganda if they occur between a man and a bill also clus a provisn for prosecutg dividuals for plyg same-sex victims wh dgs or alhol to facilate sex.

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

The cln of “serial offenr” the portn of the bill rryg the ath penalty would allow the ernment of Uganda to execute members of a group whout fg as such the discsed above, several behavrs fed unr “aggravated homosexualy” are not illegal when male–female upl engage such acts and those that are do not always rry the penalty of ath, pecially if mted agast a male. The bill effectively targets a group (LGBT dividuals) for executn based on the behavrs most strongly rrelated wh membership that addn to the proposed penalti for “homosexualy” and “aggravated homosexualy, ” the bill also would also have imposed crimal sanctns on anyone who whheld rmatn regardg the lotn of anyone vlatn of the bill, and proposed to crimalize any “promotn of homosexualy, ” a provisn that would make difficult for human rights advot to work Uganda (CNN 2011).

The bill sets a precent of premedated, state-sanctned killg of a targeted group based on a distguishable characteristic—a characteristic that proponents (cludg Bahati) claim is immoral for Uganda, regardls of the stat and acceptance of LGBT dividuals worldwi (NPR 2011) Attus on Same-Sex RelatnshipsThroughout Ai, a large number of clergy and polil lears have taken stnch anti-gay posns. He said the ia for the bill began out of a nversatn wh members of The Fellowship 2008, who claimed that was “too late” Ameri to propose such legislatn (Kron 2012) months before the troductn of the Ugandan anti-homosexualy bill, three Amerin evangelil Christians spoke at an event Uganda to pontifite on the “threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based valu and the tradnal Ain fay” (Gettleman 2010, para. “Homosexualy” and the Legacy of ColonizatnAlthough the history of same-sex sexual behavrs Uganda and Ai predat lonialism, is the belief of many homophobic lears that lonizatn is the reason why gays and lbians exist Ai, and that same-sex attractn is herently ntrary to Ain valu and behavral norms (Tamale 2007, pp.

A popular anti-gay belief Uganda is that whe lonial disurse had emasculated Ai, and that supportg gay and lbian liftyl black Ai is an iologil imposn by wh that emasculat the natn-state, unrmg male power and nventnal genr relatns and hierarchi (Spurl 2006; Tamale 2007, p. 57) opn surveys have dited that the vast majory of Ugandans (96%) believe that the gay and lbian “liftyle” should be rejected (“Homosexualy is a way of life that should not be accepted by society”), as do cizens of many untri Ai (Pew Rearch Center 2013).

UGANDA TO JAIL PEOPLE WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ANTI-GAY LAWS

In Mrania, male-to-male sex is punishable by ath, as well as parts of Nigeria and Somalia unr Islamic law (Itaborahy and Zhu 2013); however, the laws may not apply to dividuals who engage female-to-female many untri, crimalizatn of same-sex relatnships tends to foc more on relatns between gay men than those between lbians. Some scholars suggt that homophobia is so entrenched Uganda that many cizens would rather rema unrmed about the issu (Jjuo 2013) addn, the WHO dit that crimalizatn of same-sex sexual behavr is a barrier for gay men to ga accs to valuable health servic as a rult of their abily to be prosecuted (WHO 2011, p. A circular dilemma is th created by anti-homosexualy laws such as the one proposed Uganda, which a group that is statistilly at a higher risk of ntractg HIV/AIDS is targeted through crimal prosecutn, which mak even more difficult for members of that group to receive proper treatment and unselg.

UGANDA ANNOUNC ‘KILL THE GAYS’ LAW IMPOSG ATH PENALTY ON HOMOSEXUALS

The official name of the Ugandan bill is the “Anti-Homosexualy Bill” (Bahati 2009), but the Wtern media has taken to llg the “Kill The Gays” opn about homosexualy and HIV/AIDS Uganda has led to an attempted genoci agast homosexuals through e of the ath penalty. Genocidair have ed natnaly, race, ethnicy, and relign to fe “the other”: exampl om morn genocis clu Jews the Holot, Tutsi Rwanda, the “new people” Cambodia, and Mlims the orientatn has been ed to fe groups many cultur, typilly g dichotomo tegori of homosexual/heterosexual; however, tegorizg sexual orientatn is more plited than g groups fed by gay/straight (Sell 1997; also see related discsns this volume, by Frerick; Johnson; Msger; Woods).

1), a moral panic occurs when “A ndn, episo, person or group of persons emerg to bee fed as a threat to societal valu and terts…” Folk vils are then intified as the “evil” to blame for the issue that began the panic (Cohen 1980)— the se of HIV/AIDS, the spegoat be gay otherg of homosexuals and other LGBT dividuals has bee mon practice Uganda.

Speakers at workshops Uganda have preached about “the gay agenda, ” which clus the sodomizg of teenage boys, and how the gay movement general is an “evil stutn” whose ma purpose is to stroy the stutn of marriage and replace wh a “culture of sexual promiscuy” (Dicklch 2012). Rollg Stone, a Ugandan tabloid publitn, published the nam of “known homosexuals, ” wh a banner readg “Hang Them” on the ont page of one issue (Olya and Strazio 2010), and later published a send issue wh several more “known homosexuals” intified before the High Court of Uganda termed the publitn of such rmatn was unnstutnal (Jjuo 2013). In the Bosnian Genoci, Slobodan Milosevic nspired to remove polil morat om the erng Central Commtee (Woolf and Hulsizer 2005) Uganda, the “Anti Homosexualy” bill ntas a provisn that punish “aidg and abatg [sic] homosexualy” as well as “promotg homosexualy.

ANTI-GAY BIGOTS PLUNGE AI TO NEW ERA OF HATE CRIM

” Anyone guilty of promotg homosexualy (through publishg, dissematg, or otherwise distributg “pornographic” materials), who funds or sponsors homosexualy, electronic vic for promotg homosexualy, or “abets homosexualy any way” n be rcerated for between 5 and 7 years (Bahati 2009). Th, gay men durg The Holot were subject to a facto ath penalty, even though official state penalti for their behavr were rtricted to rceratn for no longer than 10 years (Johannson and Percy 1990) may argue that Uganda’s “Anti-homosexualy” bill nnot be nsired to be an attempted genoci bee foc on illegal behavr rather than on the persecutn of a group.

Evince of this tentnaly n be found the draft of Uganda’s bill, which specifilly stat “fns of ‘sexual orientatn’, ‘sexual rights’, ‘sexual mori’, ‘genr inty’ shall not be ed anyway [sic] to legimize homosexualy, genr inty disorrs and related practic Uganda” (Bahati 2009).