Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

Museveni signs Anti homosexuality bill

President Museveni finally signed the Anti gay bill into law at around 1:52 pm on February 24, 2014 at State House Entebbe in the full glare of the media. It was a highly billed function that also had ambassadors in attendance.

The law effectively criminalises homosexual behaviour and recruitment of people into the vice with offenders getting a penalty of up to lifetime imprisonment once convicted.

Museveni remarked, “Even up to now, I can’t fully understand how someone can get attracted to a fellow man instead of these beautiful women” The bill had attracted a lot of  condemnation to Uganda from the international community with US President Barack Obama saying the new law would strain the “valued relationship” between the two countries.

“It is our view that we punish exhibitionism, recruiters and homosexual prosttutes,” Museveni concluded. News of the signing of the Anti homosexuality bill was greeted with cheers and excitement by Ugandans on social media saying the President had done the right thing.


Source: http://www.independent.co.ug/ugandatalks/2014/02/museveni-signs-anti-homosexuality-bill/ (http://www.independent.co.ug/ugandatalks/2014/02/museveni-signs-anti-homosexuality-bill/)


"The law punishes first-time offenders with 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of "aggravated homosexuality".

The bill originally proposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts, but that was later removed amid international criticism.

US President Barack Obama has urged Museveni not to sign the bill, saying doing so would "complicate" the east African country's relationship with Washington.

Uganda is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in Somalia where Ugandan troops have formed the backbone of the African Union peacekeeping force battling al Qaeda-aligned fighters."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/02/ugandan-president-sign-anti-gay-bill-20142245119120579.html (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/02/ugandan-president-sign-anti-gay-bill-20142245119120579.html)

A colonial history of Anti-Sodomy Laws in Africa can be found here; http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=472:colonial-sodomy-homophobic-threat-within-common-law&catid=91:rights-in-focus&Itemid=296 (http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=472:colonial-sodomy-homophobic-threat-within-common-law&catid=91:rights-in-focus&Itemid=296)