KAMPALA Uganda's parliament on Tuesday passed one of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ bills mostly unchanged, including provision for long jail terms and the death penalty, after President Yoweri Museveni asked for some parts of the original legislation be toned down.
The new bill retains most of the harshest measures of the legislation adopted in March, which drew condemnation from the United Nations, the US, the EU and major corporations.
After a voice vote on Tuesday that followed less than a half-hour of debate, parliament speaker Anita Among urged lawmakers to remain defiant in the face of international criticism.
"Let's protect Ugandans, let's protect our values, our virtues," Among said.
"The bill (is) passed," Among said after the final vote saw the legislation win approval from all but one lawmaker.
"We have a culture to protect. The Western world will not come to rule Uganda," she said.
Legislators amended portions of the draft law to clarify that identifying as gay would not be criminalised, but "engaging in acts of homosexuality" would be an offence punishable with life imprisonment.
Although Museveni had advised lawmakers to delete a provision making "aggravated homosexuality" a capital offence, lawmakers rejected that move, meaning that repeat offenders could be sentenced to death.
The provisions retained in the new bill allow for the death penalty in cases of so-called "aggravated homosexuality", a term the government uses to describe actions including having gay sex when HIV-positive.
Uganda has not resorted to capital punishment for many years.
The provisions also allow for a 20-year sentence for promoting homosexuality, which activists say could criminalise any advocacy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer citizens.
According to the new draft, anyone who "knowingly promotes homosexuality" faces up to 20 years in jail – a provision left unchanged from the original bill.
Organisations found guilty of encouraging same-sex activity could face a 10-year ban.
The legislation now heads back to Museveni, who can sign it, veto it or return it again to parliament.
Museveni, a vocal opponent of LGBTQ rights, has signalled he intends to sign the legislation once certain changes are made, including the addition of measures to "rehabilitate" gay people.
It was not immediately clear if the new bill satisfied his requests, and his office was not available for comment.
The legislation was amended to stipulate that merely identifying as LGBTQ is not a crime. It also revised a measure that obliged people to report homosexual activity to only require reporting when a child is involved.
Human rights activist Adrian Jjuuko dismissed the first amendment regarding LGBTQ identification as "useless".
"In practice, the police doesn't care about whether you've committed the act or not. They will arrest you for acting like gay, walking like gay," he said.
Same-sex relations are already illegal in Uganda under a British colonial-era law. LGBTQ individuals routinely face arrest and harassment by law enforcement, and passage of the bill in March unleashed a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks, members of the community say.
Proponents of the bill say broad legislation is needed to counter what they allege, without evidence, are efforts by LGBTQ Ugandans to recruit children into homosexuality.
Western governments suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security cooperation in response to another anti-LGBTQ law Museveni signed in 2014. That law was nullified within months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.
The US government said last week that it was assessing the implications of the looming law for activities in Uganda under its flagship HIV/AIDS programme.
REUTERS and AFP