Uganda
has last week signed a bill that further bans homosexuality. According
to CNN, a man was even burned to death for being gay shortly.
The
bill’s original 2009 version, named “Kill The Gays,” went as far as
calling for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts; that
provision was shelved following international furore.
Under
its latest iteration, anyone who conducts marriage ceremonies for
same-sex couples faces seven years behind bars. Failure to report
homosexual activity to police is also criminalized. Doctors who treat
gays, landlords who rent them property and those suspected of being
LBGTQ are subject to five-year prison terms under the bill.
Anyone who offers support to homosexuals will also be committing a criminal offense, which can reportedly extend to counseling.
Though
homosexuality has already been illegal in the Southeast African nation,
some argued this bill needed to be passed to safeguard against Western
values.
Warning! Graphic Violence: viewer discretion is advised.
Many LBGTQs and supporters in the nation and worldwide decried the bill’s passage.
“The
witch hunt had already started, and now it has been legitimized by the
parliament of Uganda, which is very scary,” said Clare Byarugaba, who
coordinates the Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and
Constitutional Law, a gay rights group.
“We don’t know how brutal the police will be now that the bill has passed. With this legitimization, it’s going to get worse.”
President Yoweri Museveni has to sign the bill within 30 days to make it official. READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/55056.html
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