The present ban on same-sex relationships, according to legislators, does not go far enough, On Thursday, the Ugandan parliament began debating a bill that would make it illegal to identify as LGBTQ.
Same-sex relationships are punished by up to a life sentence in jail in this socially conservative and religious country in east Africa.
According to Human Rights Watch, although more than 30 African nations forbid same-sex relationships, if Uganda’s bill is approved, it would appear to be the first to criminalize the act of merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ).
Anyone who “stands out as a lesbian, homosexual, transgender, queer, or any other sexual or gender identity that is antithetical to the binary categories of male and female” faces a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.
The law is similar to one that was passed in 2013 that criminalized lesbianism and toughened some punishments. Before it was overturned on procedural grounds by a domestic court, it received strong worldwide censure.