Key Points
- A new bill in Uganda, if passed, would criminalise merely identifying as a member of the LGBTIQ+ community.
- Activists are concerned by the latest signs of rising homophobia in the country.
- MPs behind the new bill say the current bans on same-sex relations don’t go far enough.
Ugandan lawmakers are considering a bill that would criminalise identifying as part of the LGBTIQ+ community, with some MPs saying current bans on same-sex relations don’t go far enough.
Current laws in Uganda already criminalise gay relationships and engaging in any same-sex relations is punishable by up to life in prison.
The proposed law was introduced to fight “threats to the traditional, heterosexual family”, according to a copy seen by Reuters.
The law targets anyone who identifies with a "sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female". It also criminalises the “promotion of gay activities" and "conspiring" to engage in same-sex relations.
The new bill is similar to legislation passed in 2013 that criminalised homosexuality. That law was annulled the following year when a domestic court ruled that it had been passed without receiving enough votes in parliament.
More than 30 African countries ban same-sex relations, but, if this bill passes into law, Uganda would be the first country to criminalise merely identifying as gay.
The initial passing of the 2013 law caused widespread international condemnation and gay rights activists are concerned by the latest signs of rising homophobia in a country where homosexual acts are already illegal.
Campaign group Human Rights Watch say passing the law would be a violation of human rights.
"One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalises people simply for being who they are as well as further infringing on the rights to privacy, and freedoms of expression and association that are already compromised in Uganda," said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch.
