Is It Now Legal to Be Gay Uganda? | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• IS IT NOW LEGAL TO BE GAY UGANDA?
• NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
• UGANDA'S ANTI-GAY LAW: HOW RTRICTED ARE LGBTQ RIGHTS AI?
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• BEG GAY UGANDA
• UGANDA TO JAIL PEOPLE WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ANTI-GAY LAWS

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

Media ptn, Watch: Cheers and applse as Uganda pass anti-gay billPeople who intify as gay Uganda risk life prison after parliament passed a new bill to crack down on homosexual activi.

A rights activist told the BBC the bate around the bill had led to fear of more attacks on gay people. People are receivg lls that 'if you don't give me money, I will report that you are gay, '" they bill is one of the tought piec of anti-gay legislatn Ai.

IS IT NOW LEGAL TO BE GAY UGANDA?

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. In the weeks before the bate, anti-homosexual sentiment was proment the media, an activist who wanted to rema anonymo told the BBC. "In some areas even law enforcers are g the current environment to extort money om people who they acce of beg gay.

He has ma several anti-gay ments recent weeks, and also cricised Wtern untri for puttg prsure on Uganda over the issue. Another gay rights activist acced the ernment of g the bill to distract the public om s failur to addrs some of their prsg enomic ncerns.

"They are tryg to dm up anti-gay rhetoric to divert attentn om really what is important to Ugandans general.

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

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.

UGANDA'S ANTI-GAY LAW: HOW RTRICTED ARE LGBTQ RIGHTS AI?

When Uganda's Constutnal Court clared the notor Anti-Homosexualy Act "null and void" on Augt 1, the untry's lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and tersex (LGBTI) muny and human rights activists breathed a llective sigh of relief. Others end up on the n Uganda, particularly those "outed" by unscpulo tabloid newspapers photo montag of "Uganda's Top Homos. It poted out the myriad ways the Anti-Homosexualy Act vlated well-enshred rights to eedom of exprsn, assembly, and associatn, as well as privacy.

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

The act crimalized the unfed "promotn of homosexualy. The law also banned "aidg and abettg homosexualy" and keepg any home, room, or place "for the purpos of homosexualy, " provisns which led some Ugandan landlords to evict their LGBTI tenants.

Durg the vote on the Anti-Homosexualy Act, Rebec Kadaga, the parliament speaker and one of the bill's biggt cheerlears, flagrantly ignored objectns om the prime mister and another legislator that there was no quom.

In short, that the urt stck down the Anti-Homosexualy Act on the quom issue was a victory self for the le of law: Parliamentary procre is equently flouted, and lawmakers rarely see any nsequenc.

BEG GAY UGANDA

"I am officially legal, " gay activist Frank Mugisha, one of the petners the urt se, proclaimed on Twter shortly after the lg. The Anti-Homosexualy Act did not make illegal to be gay, but rather created a seri of new "crim" such as the ambiguo "promotn" of homosexualy. " That crime, too, n lead to a sentence of life prison -- meang Uganda retas one of the most severe penalti the world for homosexual nduct.

It leav Uganda's LGBTI people whout accs to effective remedi to abe the face of homophobic mobs and rpt officials preyg on vulnerabily and fear. The judge led that Lokodo had the right to shut down the workshop, allegg that participants, simply by talkg about human rights for gay people, were "promotg" or "cg" same-sex acts that were prohibed by Article 145.

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

The judge even suggted that ndom distributn to gay people uld be unlawful -- a cisn that is pecially flammatory given Uganda's high HIV rat and failure recent years to make progrs tacklg the spread of the vis. Ultimately, the Ugandan ernment uld appeal the lg agast the Anti-Homosexualy Act to the untry's Supreme Court.

-Ai Lears Summ this week -- hardly help the e of LGBTI Ugandans, given that the law's proponents scurriloly st homosexualy as a "Wtern imposn. " World lears who nmned the Anti-Homosexualy Act, and some s whheld or redirected aid while asssg the law's impact, did the right thg -- but failg to nmn other ser human rights ab by Meveni's regime, such as torture by the police and ary, the killgs of unarmed prottors 2009 and 2011, and ongog threats to civil society, they leave the imprsn of prrizg the rights of LGBTI people over other ncerns.

A 2011 BBC documentary sensatnally labeled Uganda "the world's worst place to be gay, " but many LGBTI Ugandans reject that pictn as oversimplifyg a plex lol ntext which activists have managed to hold hard-earned ground the face of hostily. Certaly, there are plenty of other ntenrs for the moniker: Nigeria, spe havg passed an equally egreg anti-gay law that crimaliz acts such as "the public show of same-sex amoro relatnship directly or directly" has received only a actn of the ternatnal nmnatn directed at Uganda. In Cameroon, meanwhile, LGBTI people are equently sentenced to prison on allegatns of nsensual sex, often after beg subjected to forced anal exams that purport to "prove" homosexualy.