Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday called on legislators to reconsider the anti-gay legislation passed by parliament last month, reported Reuters.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 promises harsh penalties against anyone who engages in same-sex activity. It criminalizes homosexual activity including promoting or abetting the lifestyle and imposes stiff penalties including death for so-called aggravated homosexuality. The bill has been widely condemned in the West.
“I return the bill to Parliament for reconsideration,” Museveni wrote in a letter to the house.
He has asked the lawmakers to make it clear in the bill that it is not criminal to merely identify as gay. The plea comes as the president faces widespread international pressure to reject what has been criticized as among the world’s harshest anti-gay legislation.
In the letter read out in the house by deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa, the Ugandan president noted that the bill must clearly state that there is a difference between being a homosexual and engaging in acts of homosexuality.
Museveni proposed a provision for the avoidance of doubt, a person believed or alleged or suspected of being a homosexual who has not committed a sexual act with another person of the same sex doesn’t commit an offense.
He also asked the lawmakers to remove provisions in the bill that make it a duty of Ugandan citizens to report acts of homosexuality because it would create constitutional challenges and also be a source of conflict in society.
The Uganda president also advised legislators to consider the issue of rehabilitation and make changes to the bill. The country’s deputy attorney general has advised that a mandatory death penalty also be removed from the law.
The bill has reportedly been sent back to parliament’s legal affairs committee, which will process and report on it and return it to the full House for more debate and passage. Once it is passed again by the full House, it will be returned to the president for approval.
