Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a contentious anti-gay bill into law on Monday, according to his administration and the country’s parliament, instituting punitive laws against homosexuality that have been labeled as among the worst in the world. Museveni “has given his consent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023.” “It is now known as the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023,” according to a statement made on the presidency’s official Twitter account. Uganda’s parliament announced on Twitter that Museveni has agreed to a fresh draft of the legislation that legislators adopted earlier this month. The president had asked MPs to revise the bill, but most of the draconian sections that sparked outrage in the West were kept. The modified version specified that while identifying as gay would not be a crime, “engaging in acts of homosexuality” would be a felony punishable by life in prison. Although Museveni recommended parliamentarians to remove a section that made “aggravated homosexuality” a capital offense, lawmakers refused, meaning that repeat offenders might face the death penalty. For many years, Uganda has avoided the use of the death penalty. The measure has been opposed by the United States, the European Union, and international human rights organizations, but it has widespread public support in Uganda.
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