Parliament okays new anti-homosexuality Bill

Parliament has granted leave to Bugiri Municipality Member of Parliament Asuman Basalirwa to introduce a private member's Bill titled: The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023.

The House granted the MP leave on Tuesday, 28 February 2023.

The Bill seeks to prohibit any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex and prohibit the promotion or recognition of such relations.

In a motion for leave of Parliament, Basalirwa observed that the House passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 on December 20, 2013, which was nullified by the Constitutional Court citing lack of necessary quorum of lawmakers to vote on the Bill.

“This House had an opportunity to correct the anomaly then, but it was lost. We now have another opportunity to follow all the procedures to have a law in place,” he said.

Basalirwa described homosexuality as a ‘cancer’ eating up the world and urged legislators to join in ensuring the establishment of a law to curb it.

“We always talk about human rights, but it is also true that there are human wrongs. Homosexuality is a human wrong that needs to be tackled through a piece of legislation,” he added.

Chairing the House, Speaker Anita Among implored MPs to stand firm and vote for a law that will act against the vice which she said is a threat to society.

“This vice has persisted and the people who are suffering are our children. We must stand up and be counted as Parliament. We need to have a law in place as regards homosexuality,” Among said.

Seconding the motion for a private members Bill against homosexuality, Charles Onen (Indep, Laroo-Pece Division) cited Uganda's Vision 2040 that has a goal to ensure Uganda has a healthy and productive population, which is at risk of homosexuality.

“The issue at hand is a public secret and we need to treat this as an act of terror on our children. The essence of humanity is preservation of life which is only guaranteed through procreation,” Onen said.

Tororo district MP Sarah Opendi called on law enforcement agencies including Uganda Police and the NGO Board to ensure the apprehension of perpetrators.

“The promotion of homosexuality is not in any legislation and, therefore, we must make it an offence for those who are promoting it among our children in schools,” Opendi said.