“The anti-homosexuality law passed by the Ugandan Parliament undermines the fundamental rights of all Ugandans and could reverse progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Twitter.
Therefore, the leader of US diplomacy urged the Ugandan government to “seriously reconsider the implementation of this legislation.” In addition, at a press conference, John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, warned that Uganda could suffer “economic repercussions” if the law were to enter into force.
The project, approved last night after six hours of debates and with the votes in favor of 73% of the more than five hundred members of the Ugandan Parliament, seeks to punish people who identify themselves as part of the LGBTIQ community with up to ten years in prison.
Homosexuality, according to Museveni, is supposed “fashion” of the West
The norm also proposes sentences of five years in prison for those who try to “promote” “homosexuality”, which would endanger the organizations that defend the rights of these people, as Amnesty International has warned.
For the project to be included in the country’s penal code, it must still be ratified by Museveni, who last Thursday already described homosexuals as “deviations from the normal” and accused the West of wanting to impose this sexual inclination in Africa.
Currently, in Uganda, a law from 1950 – eleven years before the country obtained its independence from the United Kingdom – prevails in its penal code, which penalizes carnal relations between people of the same sex with up to seven years in prison.
