Amended Ugandan Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill Retains Harsh Penalties for Homosexual Relationships Despite Global Pressure

• The controversial Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill is making international waves again for its oppressive laws
• While President Yoweri Museveni sent the bill back to Parliament for review, lawmakers decided to keep the legislation's harshest penalties
• The anti-LGBTQI+ bill has been returned to Museveni, who must decide whether to reject it or sign it into Ugandan law

KAMPALA - Ugandan lawmakers have made slight adjustments to the controversial anti-LBGTQI+ bill but have opted to stick by the harshest penalties.

This comes after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recommended that Parliament tone down some of the provisions in the bill after widespread condemnations globally.

Ugandan anti-LBGTQI+ bill retains harshest penalties of life imprisonment and death

Museveni called for the bill to contain a distinction between being homosexual and engaging in homosexual acts, New24 reported.

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While the amended legislation no longer criminalises people who identify as LGBTQIA+, people caught doing “acts of homosexuality" could still face life imprisonment or the death penalty.

The lawmakers also amended the previous provision that suspected homosexual activities should be reported to the police to include only children and "vulnerable people".

Ugandan lawmakers tried to rationalise why the bill was left essentially unchanged, claiming that it was done to preserve African culture, reports SABC News.

EFF leader Julius Malema condemns Ugandan anti-gay law

When news of the controversial bill first spread, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema warned that the draconian legislation would result in people being killed based on hatred.

Malema said:

"All you're going to do is to look at a person and out of hatred and decide that this one is gay and this one is lesbian. It cannot be correct that you identify people on the basis of hatred and that you kill them."

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The ball is now in Ugandan President Museveni's court, who must decide whether to reject the bill or sign it into law.

SA LGBTQIA+ community protests Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill and wants the UN to intervene

Earlier, Briefly News reported that South African members of the LGBTQIA+ community marched in the streets of Cape Town on Friday against the anti-homosexuality bill passed by the Parliament in Uganda.

The LGBTQIA+ national coalition wanted the United Nations (UN) to pressure the Ugandan government into dropping the bill, reported SABC News.

The anti-gay policy criminalises homosexuality, and gay people could be imprisoned for life. Under the bill, people convicted of aggravated homosexuality in Uganda could be handed the death penalty.

Source: Briefly News