UGANDA AND LGBTQ

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Context: The recently tabled bill makes it illegal for Ugandan citizens to identify as LGBTQ.

Details

• A bill making it unlawful to identify as an LGTBQ person was passed by the Ugandan parliament.
• The President will now receive the bill and decide whether to sign it into law or veto it. In a recent address, he indicated that he was in favour of the Bill and accused unidentified Western countries of "trying to impose their habits on other people."

About the new law

• Nearly all 389 of the parliament's members supported the legislation.
• The new rule will make it illegal to simply identify as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer person (LGBTQ). The legislation forbids both "conspiracy to engage in homosexuality" and "promoting and abetting" homosexual behaviour.
• The law imposes harsh punishments for violations, such as the death penalty for 'aggravated' homosexuality and life in jail for gay sex.

Arguments are given by Supporters

• Supporters of the new law argue that it is necessary to criminalise a wider range of LGBTQ acts to protect the country's traditional values, which are conservative and religious.

Criticism of the Bill

• A well-known LGBTQ activist in Uganda criticised the law as being oppressive. "The law is highly draconian as it is attempting to eradicate all Gay Ugandans from existence". 

Concerns 

• An advocate for human rights informed the BBC that there is now concern over more attacks on homosexuals. "Blackmail is widely used. According to the activist, people are getting calls threatening to report them as gay if they don't pay money.

Status of the LGBTQ community in Uganda

• LGBTQ people in Uganda already experience societal prejudice and mob violence.
• Recently politicians and religious leaders claimed that students were being persuaded into homosexuality in schools and after that Ugandan authority stepped up their persecution of LGBTQ persons.

Status of LGBTQ rights in Africa

• Homosexuality is already prohibited in more than 30 of Africa's 54 nations, including Uganda.
• Nearly half of the 69 nations with prohibitions against homosexuality are in Africa.

There are also efforts being made to decriminalize homosexuality

• The President of Angola implemented a revised penal law that forbade discrimination based on sexual orientation and permitted same-sex unions.
• Gabon reversed a law that criminalized homosexuality and made gay sex punishable with six months of imprisonment.
• Botswana’s High Court ruled in favour of decriminalizing homosexuality in 2019
• Mozambique and Seychelles scrapped anti-homosexuality laws.
• A Trinidad and Tobago court ruled that laws banning gay sex were unconstitutional.

Status of LGBTQ rights in India

• The Supreme Court recently forwarded the petitions for the legal recognition of same-sex weddings to a five-judge Constitution Bench, stating that the topic poses issues of "seminal importance."
• The Chief Justice of India stated that in addition to the rights of transgender couples, the issue also involved the interaction between constitutional rights and particular legislative provisions, such as the Special Marriage Act.
• Section 377 of the Indian Criminal Code (IPC), which criminalises homosexuality, was abolished by the Supreme Court in 2018.
• The adoption of children by same-sex couples is not permitted by law, and LGBTQ individuals are prohibited from donating blood.

Status of LGBTQ rights in the rest of the world

• According to the Pew Research Center, 62 nations have laws that make consensual same-sex acts illegal, whereas 129 nations do not.
• According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), only 28 nations worldwide recognise same-sex marriages, and 34 others offer some form of partnership status for same-sex couples.
• In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, the legal punishment for homosexual behaviour is the death penalty.
• All 27 of the European Union's member nations, as well as Central America, have legalised homosexuality.
• Same-sex consensual activity is also permitted in all five Caribbean countries and Guyana in South America.
• Middle East: Three Arab-majority nations in the Middle East do not officially ban same-sex relationships, with Iraq being one of them. Bahrain and Jordan are the other two. Yet, the majority of the region still rejects the notion of homosexuality, as evidenced by actions like the Saudi government's attempt to ban rainbow-coloured toys off store shelves.
• Asia: Afghanistan is the only nation on the Asian continent to have a death sentence in place for homosexuality. Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Brunei all have severe penalties as well. Singapore removed a law that made sex between men illegal.

Same-Sex Mariage

https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/same-sex-marriage

https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/same-sex-marriage-in-india

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/uganda-law-lgbtq-rights-africa-india-rest-of-the-world-8512622/