Uganda's Museveni assents to anti-gay law: parliament speaker

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has assented to an anti-homosexuality law, the speaker of the country's parliament said on Monday.

The law is one of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ laws and Museveni approving it means he has defied the condemnation of Western governments, businesses and human rights activists.

“I now encourage the duty bearers under the law to execute the mandate bestowed upon them in the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The people of Uganda have spoken, and it is your duty to now enforce the law in a fair, steadfast, and firm manner,” parliament speaker Anita Among said in a post on Twitter.

Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes much further in targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

Reuters