It’s Ugandan LGBT activists’ worst nightmare – the resurrection of the so-called Kill the Gays bill.
But the bill’s new life and quick death fit within a 24-hour news cycle.
On October 10, anti-gay Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo announced the bill was being brought back in its entirety, with an additional enhancement for “promoting” homosexuality.
The following day, Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said that the bill would not be introduced to parliament by the end of the month as previously reported.
“Government hereby clarifies that it does not intend to introduce any new law with regards to regulation of LGBT activities in Uganda because the current provisions in the penal code are sufficient,” he wrote.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced to Uganda’s Parliament in 2009. It was dubbed the Kill the Gays bill due to its harsh death penalty clause for alleged “aggravated homosexuality.” After international outcry, the penalty was eventually reduced to life in prison. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed it into law in 2014. Later that same year, the country’s Constitutional Court struck it down by due to a technicality.
Ugandan law already criminalizes homosexuality with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Lokodo didn’t respond to media attempts for comment over the weekend.
During the past five years, LGBT Ugandan activists have watched parliament closely in anticipation of attempts to revive the bill.
The announcement of the possibility of the anti-gay bill being proposed sent Uganda’s LGBT community into action. It capped a week where Ugandan Minister for Security General Elly Tumwine accused LGBT people of being “terrorists” in connection with opposition leader singer-turned-politician Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi (who goes by Bobi Wine), the Red Beret Movement, and the brutal murder of young gay activists.
Paralegal Brian Wasswa was hacked in his home in Jinja, about an hour outside of Uganda’s capital Kampala. Wasswa was found by his neighbors, who rushed him to the hospital, but he didn’t survive.
Wasswa’s murder was the fourth in three months, including another gay man in his hometown, a gay man in Kayunga, and a transgender woman in Gomba, according to activists.
Global LGBT and human rights organizations and Ugandan LGBT activists condemned officials stirring up anti-gay sentiment and fear with the bill.
“Violence against us has escalated in recent months, countless community members have fled, and I fear it will only get worse,” Kasha Jacquelin, founder of the Uganda LGBT Community, said in an October 10 statement from OutRight Action International. “We urgently need support from the international community if we are to stand up against the witch hunt being launched against us.”
The Bay Area Reporter reached out for comments to Ugandan LGBT activists but was unable to receive a response by press time.
OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern called Ugandan officials’ actions “legal overkill.”
She said efforts to impose the death penalty for LGBT people “only serve to increase hate and stigma against LGBTIQ people, putting them at risk not only of government persecution but also vigilante violence.”
Stern was additionally alarmed by the “promoting” of homosexuality suggested in Lokodo’s statement.
“This is an extremely dangerous addition to the resurfacing anti-homosexuality bill, which would, in essence, put activists in grave danger not only for being LGBTIQ, but also for engaging in any community support, awareness raising or service provision activities,” she said in a statement.
Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said “Uganda’s politicians are stoking dangerous intolerance and bias against LGBTI people.”
She called on Uganda’s members of parliament to “resoundingly reject” any plans to “legalize this kind of bigotry and witch hunting of anyone who is perceived as being different.”
Ugandan LGBT activists believe that the announcement was politically and economically motivated laying the groundwork for the 2021 general elections and oil production agreements.
Jacquelin called the timing of the resurrection of the bill “callous,” accusing government officials of “scapegoating” Uganda’s LGBT citizens ahead of the 2021 general elections.
Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp: 415-517-7239, or Skype: heather.cassell, or oitwnews@gmail.com.
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