Uganda’s Museveni approves anti-LGBTQ law – parliament speaker

The new law, one of the world’s strongest anti-LGBTQ laws, goes against the condemnations of the international community.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has approved a law against homosexuality, the country’s speaker of parliament said Monday.

The passage of the law, one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, goes against a string of condemnations from Western governments, corporations and human rights activists.

“I now encourage the duty bearers under the law to carry out the mandate given to them in the anti-homosexuality law,” parliament speaker Anita Among said in a post on Twitter. “The people of Uganda have spoken and it is your duty now to enforce the law in a fair, steadfast and firm manner.”

Same-sex relationships were already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes much further in tackling lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

Earlier last week, Museveni advised lawmakers to “examine the issue of rehabilitation” and make changes to the bill.

In a letter to parliament in April, he said that it should be clear and distinguish between someone who claims to have a homosexual lifestyle and someone who actually commits homosexual acts.

“The proposed law should be clear so that what is considered punishable is not the condition of someone with a deviant inclination, but rather the actions of someone acting on that deviant,” Museveni wrote in the letter.

“The bill should be reviewed and include a provision that clearly states…a person who is believed or suspected or suspected of being homosexual and who has not committed a sexual act with another person of the same sex is not committing a criminal offence. “

It’s unclear if those changes were made to the version of the bill he signed.