Uganda plans to enact a law that would impose the death penalty on homosexuals, saying the legislation would curb a rise in unnatural sex in the east African nation.
The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality and the government said it plans to resurrect it within weeks.
Ethnic and Integrity minister, Simon Lokodo stated that homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that.
Earlier this year, Brunei sparked international outcry over plans to impose the death penalty for gay sex, backtracking only after intense criticism. Now Uganda wants to follow suit.
Uganda’s constitutional court overturned the law formerly known as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it includes the death penalty on a technicality in 2014.
Even without it, Uganda is one of the hardest countries in Africa to be a sexual minority. Under British colonial law, gay sex is punishable with up to life imprisonment and activists said the new bill risked unleashing attacks.