The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 was an act passed by the Parliament of Uganda on 20 December 2013, which prohibited sexual relations between persons of the same sex. The act was previously called the "Kill the Gays bill" in the western mainstream media due to death penalty clauses proposed in the original version, but the penalty was later amended to life imprisonment. The bill was signed into law by the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni on 24 February 2014. On 1 August 2014, however, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.
The act would have broadened the criminalisation of same-sex relations in Uganda domestically. It also includes provisions about persons outside of Uganda who are charged with violating the act, asserting that they may be extradited to Uganda for punishment there. The act also includes penalties for individuals, companies, and non-governmental organisations that aid or abet same-sex sexual acts, including conducting a gay marriage. Furthermore, the act enables the Ugandan government to rescind international and regional commitments it deems outside of the interest of the act's provisions.
Same-sex relationships have been illegal in Uganda since colonial rule as they are in many African countries, especially former British colonies and before this Act was passed, they were punishable by incarceration in prison for up to 14 years. The act was introduced as the Anti Homosexuality Bill, 2009 by Member of Parliament (MP) David Bahati (National Resistance Movement) on 14 October 2009. A special motion to introduce the bill was passed a month after a two-day conference was held in which three Christians from the United States asserted that homosexuality is a direct threat to the cohesion of African families. The international community, however, assailed the law, accusing the Ugandan government of encouraging violence against LGBT people with the law. The United States imposed economic sanctions against Uganda in June 2014 in response to the law, the World Bank indefinitely postponed a $90 million aid loan to Uganda and the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway halted aid to Uganda in opposition to the law; the Ugandan government defended the bill and rejected condemnation of it, with the country's authorities stating President Museveni wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation". Several sources have noted that the act has exacerbated both the endemic homophobia in Uganda and the associated discussions about it. Others more specifically claim that such legislative actions are the result of politicized homophobia, a rhetorical tool used to further the interests of political leaders in the form of gaining popularity and/or distracting from corrupt behaviour.
Parliament passed similar bills in 2021 and 2023: the Sexual Offenses Bill, 2019, passed in May 2021 and vetoed by President Yoweri Museveni and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023.
Background
Some gay rights advocates have claimed that around 500,000 people in Uganda or 1.4 percent of its population are gay. The Ugandan government, however, has characterized the 500,000 people claim as an exaggeration designed to increase the popularity of homosexuality, and the BBC in 2009 asserted the impossibility of determining the actual number of gay people living in Uganda.
Existing laws in Uganda criminalise homosexual behavior with prison sentences, some of which can be as long as 14 years. These laws were introduced during the colonial era in order to eliminate what the colonial authorities deemed "unnatural sex". In some areas, male homosexuality was age-stratified, similar to ancient Greece where warriors purchased boys as brides, common when women were not available, or manifested as fleeting encounters as in prostitution. Human rights groups have demanded reform of those laws and decriminalisation of homosexuality and asserted that the laws reinforce prejudice and promote violence against LGBT people.