27 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has returned to Parliament the controversial law passed in February against the LGTBI community to specify that only “acts” or “promotion” of homosexual activities will be penalized and not sexual orientation itself, a distinction that predictably would not silence the criticism of the organizations defending Human Rights to this measure.
The Ugandan president has assumed that Ugandan society in no way endorses homosexual behavior, but he wants the law to make it clear that “those who have not committed a sexual act with another person of the same sex do not commit a crime.”
He aspires for this aspect to be “clear” in a text that, with its current wording, punishes this type of action with penalties of up to 20 years in prison for relationships and questions LGTBI behaviors. In the case of aggravated homosexuality, when it involves minors or there are family ties, the death penalty is even contemplated.
Museveni has also called for the elimination or correction of a section that punishes those who do not notify the authorities of alleged acts of homosexuality with up to six months in prison and that the “rehabilitation” of those who have not committed serious crimes be encouraged, according to the newspaper ‘Daily Monitor’.
The law, which also persecutes journalists, filmmakers or companies that are considered responsible in some way for promoting homosexuality, has received all kinds of criticism internationally, but both Museveni and Parliament have made it clear that they will not make decisions based on these opinions.
