A bill to criminalize identifying as LGBTQ was passed by Ugandan MPs on Tuesday, giving the government unprecedented authority to pursue a group that already endures legal discrimination.
Nearly all of the 389 members of parliament present in the crowded chamber approved the legislation.
President Yoweri Museveni will now receive the measure and have the option to sign it into law or veto it.
The bill, unveiled earlier this month, calls for severe new sanctions for sexual minorities.
In this extremely conservative and religious country in East Africa, homophobia and anti-trans prejudice are firmly ingrained, and same-sex intimate relationships are punishable by up to a life sentence in jail.
According to Human Rights Watch, although similar laws are already in more than 30 African nations, Uganda’s law would be the first to make it a crime to identify as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) person.
Additionally, it makes engaging in same-sex relationships illegal when it comes to the “promotion” of homosexuality and “aiding” and “conspiring” to do so.
