Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has refused to sign a controversial new bill against homosexuality which imposes the death penalty, requesting that it should be amended in Parliament.
President Museveni’s decision was announced last week, following a meeting between parliamentarians which resolved to return the bill to the national assembly “with proposals for its improvement”.
According to footage released by public broadcaster UBC, President Museveni condemned homosexuality during the parliamentary meeting, stating “Europe is lost. So they also want us to be lost”.
President Museveni praised lawmakers for approving the bill, congratulating the parliamentarians for taking a “strong stand”.
“It is good that you rejected the pressure from the imperialists. And this is what I told them. Whenever they come to me I say, ‘You, please shut up.’”, he added.
Currently, Uganda is one of several African nations where it is illegal to be queer and LGBTQI+ people continue to face severe discrimination in the country, including physically violent attacks against them.
President Not Opposed To Anti-Gay Law
The nation enacted its Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2013 which enforced life imprisonment for some homosexual acts between consenting adults. Though the Anti-Homosexuality Act was annulled in 2014, homosexuality is still illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law that criminalises sex acts as “against the order of nature.”
A spokesman for Museveni said the president was not opposed to the punishments proposed in the bill but wanted lawmakers to look into “the issue of rehabilitation.”
“The President told the members that he had no objections to the punishments but on the issue of rehabilitation of the persons who have in the past been engaged in homosexuality but would like to live normal lives again,” spokesman Sandor Walusimbi wrote on Twitter.
”It was agreed that the bill goes back to parliament for the issues of rehabilitation to be looked at before he can sign it into law”, Walusimbi added.
Growing Homophobia In Uganda
President Museveni had 30 days from when parliament sent him the controversial bill to either sign the legislation into law, veto it or send it back to parliament for revisions.
Last month, The Ugandan government passed a law criminalising citizens for identifying as LGBTQI, reinforcing a further crackdown on LGBTQI+ people in a nation known for its homophobia.
The Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023, introduced by Opposition lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa to parliament, has been argued to “protect our church culture; the legal, religious and traditional family values of Ugandans from the acts that are likely to promote sexual promiscuity in this country.”
The bill imposes capital and life-imprisonment sentences for gay sex, up to 14 years for “attempted” homosexuality, and 20 years in jail for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”.
