A man wears a sticker on his right cheek during the annual LGBT Pride in Entebbe on August 9th. It reads: “Some people in Uganda are gay. Get over it!”

DLNews Human Rights:

Uganda Enforces Controversial Anti-LGBTQ Law

It is hard to believe that such incredible laws apply!

In Uganda, a 20-year-old has been charged with "aggravated homosexuality," which could constitute a capital offense under the controversial anti-LGBTQ law introduced earlier this year. The man was taken into custody in Soroti in the east of the country, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor said on Monday. He is charged with "having an illegal sexual relationship with (...) a 41-year-old adult man," according to the indictment, which the AFP news agency was able to see.

At the end of May, despite strong international protests, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed a controversial law for up to life imprisonment for "homosexual acts." According to the law, calling yourself gay is not yet a crime. "Participation in homosexual acts" is a crime punishable by life imprisonment.

Contrary to the President's demand, Parliament also stuck to the passage declaring cases of "serious homosexuality" to be a capital crime. That means repeat offenders could be punished with death. The death penalty is enshrined in Uganda's constitution but has not been used for many years.

The new law caused outrage in the United Nations, human rights organizations, and many Western countries. In early August, the World Bank declared that it would no longer grant loans to Uganda because the law “fundamentally violates the values of the World Bank.”

US President Joe Biden described the anti-LGBTQ law as a "grave violation" of human rights and threatened to halt aid and investment in Uganda. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the law as a "violation of human rights."