AFRICA ( Commonwealth Union) _ A bill against homosexuality that previously made it illegal to be LGBTQ+ has been softened by Uganda’s parliament.
Human rights advocates were furious when the new legislation was first adopted in March.
People in same-sex relationships had to be reported to the authorities by members of the public. Most homosexual people were afraid that the bill had caused them to fear new attacks on homosexuals. A lot of people are blackmailed. People are getting calls threatening to denounce someone as gay if they don’t give them money, they claimed at the time.
Later, the bill was sent back to parliament with modifications suggested by President Yoweri Museveni. According to him, the provision that would have penalized gay persons would have resulted in prosecutions of individuals based solely on their outward appearance.
Due to colonial influences, same-sex actions have been prohibited in Uganda for a very long time. It is still one of the strictest anti-gay laws on the continent, despite the fact that this latest version of the measure has been softened since it was first introduced last month.
Landlords who knowingly allow gay conduct on their property run the danger of spending seven years in prison. For what it refers to as aggravated offenses, such as child abuse, the law continues to call for the death sentence.
Any form of homosexual abuse against children or other vulnerable people must be reported to the authorities by the general public. Only one MP opposed the bill, which was approved by a large majority. The president will then need to sign it into law at the following stage. However, International human rights organizations have widely denounced the draft bill. The Ugandan constitutional court invalidated a similar measure in 2014 as well.
According to a report released last week, the US, EU, and the UK have funded anti-LGBTQ+ organizations in Uganda to the tune of at least $75 million (£60 million).
The Institute for Journalism and Social Change researchers noted that a number of these projects are unexpectedly coded as support for women’s rights and say they are focused on gender equality.
