• President Museveni has signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023
• President Erdogan of Turkey used attacks on the LGBT community to help win last Sunday's election
President Museveni of Uganda has signed into law a revised anti-gay law.
The only real difference in the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is that it will no longer be a crime to think gay thoughts. "Aggravated" homosexuality will still carry the death penalty. Ordinary homosexuality will carry a 20-year sentence and it will be a criminal offence not to report gay people.
Even if most Africans are against legalising gay sex, this legislation is unnecessary – the Uganda Penal Code already includes homosexuality as a criminal offence.
This is a tragic development in a country that was once famous for limiting the spread of Aids. In the 1990s the Uganda government even issued condoms in prisons knowing there was a lot of Male to Male sex there.
Moreover, Uganda will potentially lose billions of dollars in aid as a result of this punitive legislation. Already President Biden has threatened to cut off American aid to Uganda.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act is another version of the culture wars popular in the USA, UK, Hungary, Turkey and elsewhere that are intended to distract voters from the real issues.
Similar legislation is in the National Assembly. It should not be pursued.
Quote of the day: "Manners is the key thing. When you're growing up, you're walking down the street, you've got to tell everybody good morning. Everybody. You can't pass one person."
Usain Bolt
The Jamaican sprinter broke the 100m world record on May 31, 2008