Uganda president signs anti-LGBTQ bill, which includes death penalty provisions, into law | CBC News

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” in defiance of Western condemnations and potential sanctions from aid donors.

Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes much further.

It imposes capital punishment for some behaviour, including transmitting a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex, and stipulates a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.

“The Ugandan president has today legalized state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia,” said Clare Byarugaba, a Ugandan rights activist. “It’s a very dark and sad day for the LGBTIQ community, our allies and all of Uganda.”

She and other activists have vowed a legal challenge to the law, which Museveni was shown signing at his desk with a golden pen in a photo tweeted by Uganda’s presidency.

The 78-year-old leader has called homosexuality a “deviation from normal” and urged lawmakers to resist “imperialist” pressure.

Governmental, corporate condemnations

A less-restrictive 2014 anti-LGBTQ law was struck down by a domestic court on procedural grounds, after Western governments had initially suspended some aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security co-operation.

Uganda receives billions of dollars in foreign aid each year and could now face another round of sanctions.

The bill’s sponsor, Asuman Basalirwa, told reporters that parliament Speaker Anita Among’s U.S. visa was cancelled after the law was signed. Among and the U.S. Embassy in Uganda did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The White House condemned the bill after it was first passed in March, and last month, the U.S. government said it was assessing the implications of the legislation for activities in Uganda under PEPFAR, its flagship HIV/AIDS program.

In a joint statement on Monday, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said the law put Uganda’s anti-HIV fight “in grave jeopardy.”

LISTEN | Activist fears for fellow Ugandans due to anti-LGBTQ bill:

Dominic Arnall, chief executive of Open For Business, a coalition of companies that includes Google and Microsoft, said the group was deeply disappointed.

“Our data shows that this law runs counter to the interests of economic progress and prosperity of all people in Uganda,” he said.

Fears other countries could follow suit

The European Union reiterated a condemnation from March, while the United Nations human rights body said the law was a recipe for systematic violation of Ugandans’ rights.

“We are appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill is now law,” it tweeted.

Uganda’s move could encourage lawmakers in other countries on the continent to follow suit.

“We’re seeing similar patterns in other countries in the region. We’ve seen attacks on LGBTQ people in Burundi, very hostile rhetoric in Kenya and Tanzania from public figures and on social media. It’s been extremely hostile,” Human Rights Watch researcher Oryem Nyeko told CBC’s The Current in March.

Museveni had sent the original bill back to lawmakers, asking that they tone down some provisions. The amended version stipulated that merely identifying as LGBTQ is not a crime and revised a measure that obliged people to report homosexual activity to only require reporting when a child is involved.