Uganda's parliament has passed a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment in some cases.
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| People protesting outside the Ugandan embassy in London in December 2009 against anti-gay measures in Uganda. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images |
Ugandan politicians have passed an anti-gay law that punishes "aggravated homosexuality" with life imprisonment.
The
bill drew wide condemnation when it was first introduced in 2010 and
included the death penalty, but that was removed from the revised
version passed by parliament.
Although a provision for the death
penalty was removed from the original bill, the law passed on Friday
sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for the new offence of
"aggravated homosexuality" – repeat offending – according to the office
of a spokeswoman for Uganda's parliament.
Homosexuality
was already illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law that
criminalised sexual acts "against the order of nature", but the Ugandan
politician who wrote the new law argued that tough new legislation was
needed because gay people from the west threatened to destroy Ugandan
families and were allegedly "recruiting" Ugandan children into gay
lifestyles.
The Ugandan gay community has disputed this account,
saying that Ugandan political and religious leaders had come under the
influence of American evangelicals who wanted to spread their anti-gay
campaign in Africa.
They have singled out Scott Lively, a Massachusetts evangelical, who
they sued in March 2012 under the Alien Tort Statute that allows
non-citizens to file suit in the US if there is an alleged violation of
international law.
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