Uganda Denies Plans To Criminalize Gay Sex

Gays in UG to be sentenced to death

Uganda government has denied its plans to introduce the legislation that would impose the death penalty for gay sex after international donors including the European Union, World Bank, the United States, and the Global Fund said they were monitoring the situation closely and stood by the rights of gay people.

Last week, Uganda revived a controversial bill dubbed “Kill the Gays” that came to life five years ago but received massive condemnation. Allegations that there has been massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where gay people are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that, prompted the government to formulate ways to criminalizes the act.

“It is a concern. But we are ready. We don’t like blackmailing. Much as we know that this is going to irritate our supporters in budget and governance, we can’t just bend our heads and bow before people who want to impose a culture which is foreign to us,” Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo, had said last week.

But a government spokesman took to Twitter on Saturday to deny any such plan or that the bill was about to be tabled.

“There are no plans by the government to introduce a law like that. We have the penal code that already handles issues of unnatural sexual behavior so there is no law coming up,” said President Museveni’s senior press secretary.

Most African countries have the world’s most prohibitive laws governing homosexuality with same-sex relationships and gay sex considered taboo. Uganda is said to be one of the hostile countries for members of the LGBT community who face prejudice in getting jobs, renting housing or seeking medical care or education. Most Uganda gay people have sought refuge in neighboring countries, for fear of losing their lives.