Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a new version of an anti-gay bill to remove a clause that appeared to criminalize identifying as LGBTQ.
President Yoweri Museveni returned the bill last month to the national assembly, asking for changes that would differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ and actually engaging in homosexual acts. Homosexuality was already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law criminalizing sexual activity “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment. Although the law would no longer criminalize individuals who identify as LGBTQ, the revised version still allows prison sentences of up to 20 years for advocating or promoting the rights of LGBTQ people.
Museveni is under pressure from the international community to veto the legislation. A group of UN experts described the bill previously approved by lawmakers as “an egregious violation of human rights,” while Amnesty International called it “draconian and overly broad.” Anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has grown in recent weeks amid news coverage alleging sodomy in boarding schools, including a prestigious one for boys where a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son.
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