A Ugandan lawmaker has introduced a
bill that would criminalize coming out as gay, bisexual, transgender,
or queer.
According to Human Rights Watch, MP
Asuman Basalirwa introduced the bill on March 9.
The 2023 Anti-Homosexuality bill is a
revised and more egregious version of the 2014 bill that was struck
down by a court on technical grounds. Like the original bill, this
year's version imposes prison sentences for gay sex and outlaws the
“promotion of homosexuality.”
The new bill also calls for a ten-year
prison sentence for announcing publicly that you are gay, bisexual,
transgender, or queer and defines all same-sex acts as
non-consensual.
“One of the most extreme features of
this new bill is that it criminalizes people simply for being who
they are as well as further infringing on the rights to privacy, and
freedoms of expression and association that are already compromised
in Uganda,” said
Human Rights Watch's Oryem Nyeko.
Last year, the government moved to ban
NGO's that advocate for LGBTQ rights.