Uganda will propose a new anti-gay bill on Wednesday, the speaker of the country’s parliament said, as conspiracy theories accusing shadowy international forces of promoting homosexuality flood social media.
Uganda Parliament has since allowed Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament, Hon. Asuman Basalirwa to introduce a private member’s Bill titled the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023.
Uganda parliament granted the MP leave on Tuesday, 28 February 2023, after it returned from a three-week recess where legislators monitored the progress of the Parish Development Model (PDM).
The Bill seeks to prohibit any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex and prohibit the promotion or recognition of such relations.
While moving the motion, Basalirwa observed that Parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 on 20 December 2013, which was nullified by the Constitutional Court citing lack of necessary quorum of lawmakers to vote on the Bill.
“This House had an opportunity to correct the anomaly then, but it was lost. We now have another opportunity to follow all the procedures to have a law in place,” he said.
Basalirwa described homosexuality as a ‘cancer’ eating up the world, and urged legislators to join in ensuring the establishment of a law to curb it.
“We always talk about human rights but it is also true that there are human wrongs. Homosexuality is a human wrong that needs to be tackled through a piece of legislation,” he added.
While chairing the House, Speaker Anita Among reiterated a call to MPs to stand firm and vote for a law that will act against the vice which she said is a threat to society.
“This vice has persisted and the people who are suffering are our children. We must stand up and be counted as Parliament. We need to have a law in place as regards homosexuality,” Among said.
Hon. Charles Onen (Indep., Laroo-Pece Division) cited vision Uganda 2040 that has a goal to ensure Uganda has a healthy and productive population, which is at risk of homosexuality.
“The issue at hand is a public secret and we need to treat this as an act of terror on our children. The essence of humanity is preservation of life which is only guaranteed through procreation,” said Onen.
Hon. Sarah Opendi (NRM, Tororo District) called on law enforcement agencies including Uganda Police and the NGO Board to ensure apprehension of perpetrators.
“The promotion of homosexuality is not in any legislation and therefore, we must make it an offence for those who are promoting it among our children in schools,” Opendi said.
Western governments and aid agencies working in Uganda are routinely accused of “promoting homosexuality” in the East African nation and have repeatedly defended the LGBTQ community from attacks related to their identity.
In recent weeks, online conspiracy theories conflating child sexual abuse at boarding schools with consensual same-sex acts between adults have reached fever pitch.
Uganda’s government last month set up a committee to investigate the alleged “promotion” of gay, lesbian and transgender rights in schools.
In 2014, a Ugandan court struck down a bill passed by MPs and signed by President Yoweri Museveni that sought to impose life imprisonment for homosexual relations.
The bill had prompted global outrage, with some donor nations cutting aid to the country following its passage through parliament.
Frank Mugisha, executive director of leading gay rights organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda, which was suspended by the authorities last year, told AFP that he had already been inundated with calls from LGBTQ people over the proposed law.
“Community members are living in fear,” he said.
“Homosexual acts are already illegal and a new law would mean more harassment and discrimination against people who are already vulnerable.”
Under colonial-era laws, homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda but since independence from Britain in 1962 there has never been a conviction for consensual same-sex activity.
