Gays, lesbians to spend life in jail as new Bill passed

Kampala. You engage in homosexuality, you rot in jail, according to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill passed by Parliament on Friday.

An excited Parliament debated and overwhelmingly passed the Bill which criminalises sexual intercourse between same-sex partners.

The legislation provides for a sentence of life imprisonment for anyone convicted of homosexuality, which covers gays and lesbians. A proposal to put the punishment to 14 years in jail was rejected by the House.

According to the new law, a person commits homosexuality if he penetrates the anus or mouth of another person of the same sex with his penis or any other sexual device.

The offence is also deemed to have been committed if he or she uses any object or sex device to penetrate or stimulate sexual organs of a person of the same sex or if he or she touches another person with intent to commit the act of homosexuality.

“A person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for life,” the passed Bill reads in part.

The MPs say legislation is to protect the traditional family setting by prohibiting sexual relations by persons of the same sex and to strengthen the nation’s capacity to check emerging threats to traditional family values.

However, the law was passed without quorum despite Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s plea that Parliament was not sufficiently constituted to vote on the Bill. The Bill was introduced in Parliament on