A harsh anti-gay law with the death penalty was signed into law in Uganda on Monday by the country’s president, enshrining a growing campaign against L.G.B.T.Q. people in the conservative East African country and rejecting widespread calls to veto one of the strictest anti-gay laws in existence.
The penalty for having homosexual intercourse is life in jail, according to the legislation. Anyone who seeks to engage in same-sex relationships faces a maximum sentence of ten years in jail.
For months, Uganda’s position on same-sex marriage and the legitimacy of the LGBTQ movement has been unequivocally against it.
The Ugandan government has gone as far as establishing legislation to support its continued vehement opposition to LGBT rights. In April, the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, gave his approval to a very contentious measure that contained some of the worst anti-LGBTQ legislation in the world.
Yesterday, the bill was finally passed, and different people had different opinions on the subject. While some were strongly opposed to the law, others have shown support for it.
The president of America, Joe Biden called the law “a tragic violation of universal human rights” and said his administration would “evaluate the implications of this law on all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda.” A number of people are of the opinion that the US should not impose its ideas on the subject.
