Uganda Proposes New Antigay Law With Prison Terms of Up to 10 Years

Ugandan lawmakers have introduced new legislation that proposes prison terms of up to 10 years for anyone identifying as gay, lesbian, transgender or nonbinary. The bill was introduced by opposition lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa, but has the support of Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement.

The bill comes nearly a decade after Uganda’s highest court annulled an earlier law that allowed life sentences for what it called homosexual acts.

It proposes prison terms of up to 10 years for anyone identifying as gay, lesbian or transgender and also includes jail terms of two to five years for the promotion, recruitment and funding of LGBTQ activities.

The bill comes as conspiracy theories accusing shadowy international forces of promoting homosexuality gain traction on social media in conservative Uganda.

Uganda is notorious for its intolerance of homosexuality – which is criminalised in the country under colonial-era laws – and strict Christian views on sexuality in general.

Homosexuality is illegal in around half of Africa’s 54 countries, with gay sex punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan and parts of Nigeria and Somalia.