Uganda’s New Anti-Gay Law Could Undermine AIDS Prevention

“Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni this week signed into law his country’s most aggressive assault yet on the rights of Uganda’s LGBT community. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill dictates a life sentence for anyone caught having gay sex and the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” a term that encompasses sex with minors or sex that results in the transfer of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV. Furthermore, the law says anyone who “promotes homosexuality” be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison in a “vaguely worded” provision that puts activists and public health advocates at risk.”

Uganda’s extreme anti-LGBTQ legislation, explained

“Uganda is one of several African nations where it is illegal to be queer; the nation enacted its Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2014, which allowed for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts between consenting adults, and codified the repression of LGBTQ Ugandans. That legislation was annulled in court in 2014, though homosexuality was still illegal per previous law, according to a Human Rights Watch report.”