Despite being struck down four years ago, the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014, also known as the “Kill the Gays” bill, could be set to return.
Passed into law in February 2014, the short-lived act, which encouraged life sentences for “aggravated homosexuality”, was later deemed invalid by Uganda’s constitutional court in August of the same year.
However, local MPs are now demanding the controversial bill be brought back, saying homosexuality is “un-African”.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, MPs raised the subject of bringing back the Anti-Homosexuality Act while praising Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga for “standing firm” against LGBT rights at an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Summit in March.
Nsaba Buturo, who introduced the motion, said: “The external interests have threatened and used all kinds of means to force nations such as Uganda to accept the same sex practices."
He added: “I urge all Ugandans and the Members of Parliament to reject homosexuality in all its forms and manifestations.”
Kadaga has previously pushed for harsher laws against same-sex couples, pushing for revisions last year.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, with those charged facing up to seven years imprisonment.
In 2010 a local Ugandan newspaper called Rolling Stone published the names, addresses and photographs of people believed to be LGBTIQ+, calling for their execution. The following year, queer activist David Kato was murdered after winning a lawsuit against the newspaper.
