Uganda Backtracks on Anti-Gay Legislation

A spokesman for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that Uganda would not introduce the death penalty for homosexuality, according to Reuters. The announcement comes after Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo claimed that Uganda would reintroduce the death penalty for convicted homosexuals on October 10.

Lokodo previously told Reuters that “those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence,” and “anyone who is involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalized.” The minister blamed the existence of homosexuality on “massive recruitment by gay people in schools.”

Reuters reports that Lokodo’s statements stirred discontent among Uganda’s largest aid donors, including the World Bank, the EU, and the U.S., before the Ugandan government disavowed them. Museveni’s press secretary stated that Uganda has a law on the books that “already handles issues of unnatural sexual behavior, so there is no law coming up.”

Homosexuality is already punishable by life sentence in Uganda, according to CNN. A similar bill introducing capital punishment for convicted homosexuals was drafted in 2009 and another was passed in 2014, but Uganda’s constitutional court overruled the bill for technical reasons.

Uganda struggles with discrimination and violence against gay and transgender people, as reported by the Guardian. In the past three months, four Ugandan LGBT activists were murdered, including a gay paralegal who was beaten to death in his house in early October.

Despite many gay Ugandans having fled or having gone into hiding in recent years, Uganda’s LGBT community has continued to oppose practices they see as hateful and unfair, according to the Guardian. As LGBT activist Clare Byarugaba said, “We fought so hard against legalized homophobia and discrimination, and we shall do the same if they introduce another law.”