Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni met with lawmakers from his party this week to discuss a strict anti-LGBTQI+ bill ahead of a deadline to sign it, veto it or send it back to parliament for revisions.
Human rights activists and the US government say the bill is among the toughest laws penalizing sexual minorities anywhere in the world. The United Nations, the European Union and a long list of corporate giants have condemned it.
It would impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex when HIV positive, and 20-year sentences for “promoting” homosexuality.
Its passage last month with near-unanimous support in parliament has already triggered a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks on LGBTQI+ Ugandans, community members say.
By law, Museveni has 30 days from when parliament sent him the bill to weigh in. The bill passed on March 21, but it is not clear when it was passed to Museveni.
Museveni, a staunch opponent of LGBTQI+ rights who last month called gays “deviations from the normal”, has not indicated what he plans to do.
He signed a law in 2014 that toughened penalties for same-sex relationships, but he also sometimes suggested that homosexuality should be addressed through treatment rather than legislation.
He faces a possible juggling act trying to keep lawmakers happy with legislation that has broad popular support, without antagonizing foreign donors who provide billions of dollars in aid each year.
Western governments have suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and reduced security cooperation in response to a law signed by Museveni in 2014 that toughened penalties for same-sex relationships.
That law was overturned in a matter of months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.
One of the lawmakers en route to the meeting, Kwizera Eddie Wagahungu, said he hoped Museveni would sign the bill or send it back to parliament with suggested amendments to avoid a successful challenge in court.
“When I look into his mind…he agrees with the bill but what he has been warned about are some provisions… contradict existing laws,” Wagahungu told Reuters.
Same-sex relationships are already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but proponents of the new bill have said stronger legislation is needed to combat the threat homosexuality poses to family values. traditional.
Lawmakers from neighboring Kenya and Tanzania have recently called for similar measures in their countries.
A coalition of international companies, including Google, criticized the legislation last month, warning it would put companies with operations in Uganda in an impossible position and hurt the country’s economy.
(Written by Aaron Ross)
Source: CNN Brasil
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