Uganda Proposes Introduction of Death Penalty for Gay Sex

Government officials in Uganda have announced their plans the make the act of homosexual sex a crime punishable by death.

The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”, was signed into law five years ago by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni but was struck down in the Supreme Court on a technicality.

Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo believes the bill would curb a rise in gay sex: “[h]omosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that”.

He said the current law is too restrictive in that the maximum sentence currently available to those found guilty is life imprisonment.  “We want to make it clear that anyone who is even involved in the promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised.  Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence”.

The move has sparked fear and outrage amongst LGBT activists, although it is not completely supported in Uganda.  Most lawmakers back the bill in principle; however, the practical implications are far more complex.

Back in May, Brunei was forced to suspend a similar bill after international outcry and sanctions followed.  And last November Denmark withheld $10 million in aid to Tanzania following homophobic comments from a senior government official.

It is widely believed that homophobic tensions would be stoked across Uganda if the bill were to be passed into law.  This is in a country in which homosexuals are virulently pursued and persecuted by accident of birth.

Pepe Julian Onziema from the group Sexual Minorities in Uganda, an alliance of LGBT organisations, said that three gay men and one transgender woman have already been murdered this year.  The most recent attack was just last week, when a man was beaten to death by a mob.