Dlnews Staff:

The U.S. has revised its travel advisory for the East African country following the enactment of a controversial anti-LGBTQ law in Uganda, warning LGBTQ people against traveling to the African country.

Ugandan students celebrated President Museveni for signing the new anti-LGBTQ law during a march in Kampala, Uganda, on May 31, 2023. "To hell with homosexuality," for example, reads the placard on the left.

"Reconsider travel to Uganda due to crime, terrorism, and anti-LGBTQI+ laws," reads a new U.S. State Department travel advisory released Monday evening.

The law "increases the risk that LGBTQI+ persons and those perceived to be LGBTQI+ could be prosecuted and punished with life imprisonment or death," the department said in justifying its reassessment.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, 78, signed the controversial law into law in late May. According to the law, "engaging in homosexual acts" is punishable by life imprisonment. Repeat offenders even face the death penalty.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the EU, and the USA strongly condemned the law. They also warned of a deterioration in Uganda's international relations and threatened development aid and investment cuts.

Same-sex sexual relations have been punishable in Uganda since colonial times. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Since Uganda's independence, no court convictions have been based on these penal provisions. Vigorous prosecution of homosexuals by state organs in the private sphere has not yet occurred."

Then follows the revised qualification: "However, it cannot be ruled out that this will change with the law against homosexuality passed in May 2023. People identifiable as queer are not infrequently subjected to hostility in public, as homosexuality is heavily tabooed through all social classes in Uganda."

However, since the public exchange of affection among heterosexuals is also taboo, it says, "Therefore, restrained behavior in public is urgently indicated."