Uganda’s anti-gay bill is ‘deeply troubling,’ U.N. rights chief says

KAMPALA, Uganda — 

The United Nations rights chief on Wednesday urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to block an anti-LGBTQ bill that prescribes harsh penalties, including execution and life in prison, for some homosexual acts.

“The passing of this discriminatory bill — probably among the worst of its kind in the world — is a deeply troubling development,” Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.

And in the U.S., National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said if the law were enacted, Washington would “have to take a look” at imposing economic sanctions on Uganda. He noted that this would be “really unfortunate,” as most U.S. aid to the African country is in the form health assistance, especially anti-AIDS assistance.

Uganda’s parliament passed the bill late Tuesday in a protracted plenary session during which last-minute changes were made to the legislation, which originally included penalties of up to 10 years in jail for outlawed homosexual acts.

In the version approved by lawmakers, the offense of “aggravated homosexuality” now carries the death penalty. Aggravated homosexuality applies in cases of sexual relations involving those infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people.

The bill would allow a 14-year sentence for “attempted aggravated homosexuality,” and up to 10 years for “attempted homosexuality.”

The offense of “homosexuality” would be punishable by life in prison, the same sentence prescribed in Uganda’s colonial-era penal code criminalizing sex acts “against the order of nature.”

The bill was introduced last month by an opposition lawmaker who said his goal was to punish “promotion, recruitment and funding” related to LGBTQ activities in this East African country, where gay people are widely disparaged.

The bill now goes to Museveni, who can veto or sign it into law. He suggested in a recent speech that he supported the legislation, and accused unnamed Western nations of “trying to impose their practices on other people.”

“If signed into law by the president, it will render lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are,” Turk, the U.N. rights chief, said in his statement. “It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that the United States had “grave concerns” about the bill, and that it would hamper tourism and economic investment and “damage Uganda’s reputation.”

Jean-Pierre added: “No one should be attacked, imprisoned, or killed simply because of who they are, or who they love.”

Anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has grown in recent weeks amid alleged reports of sodomy in boarding schools, including a prestigious one for boys where a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son. Authorities are investigating that case.

The recent decision of the Church of England to bless civil marriages of same-sex couples also has inflamed many in Uganda, including some who see homosexuality as imported from abroad. About a third of Ugandans are Anglican, the same faith.

Uganda’s LGBTQ community in recent years has faced growing pressure from civilian authorities who want a tough new law punishing same-sex activities.

Last year, the Ugandan agency overseeing the work of nongovernmental organizations stopped the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda, the most prominent LGBTQ organization in the country, accusing it of failing to register legally. The group’s leader said his organization had been rejected by the registrar of companies as undesirable.

Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries.