Ugandan students thank Museveni and MPs for anti-gay law

University students in Uganda have marched to the country's Parliament in Kampala to thank legislators for passing the Anti-homosexuality Bill.

The Daily Monitor reports that the hundreds of students drawn from 13 universities across the country also thanked President Yoweri Museveni for signing the Bill into law. 

Videos shared online showed the students in a peaceful march as they sang patriotic songs in a show of appreciation and solidarity with the lawmakers and Head of State.

"The God almighty we lay our future in thy hands, united people liberty today," they sang on the steps of Parliament's entrance. 

"We don't want your pro-gay money. We want and love our country more than money," the students said.

Museveni on Monday signed into law what has been termed the world’s harshest anti-gay Bill which prescribes the death penalty for homosexual acts.

It followed the overwhelming passage of the Bill by Uganda's Parliament on March 21 where only one of the 389 MPs who attended the debate objected to its enactment. 

Museveni, a vocal opponent of gay rights, commended the legislators for having "rejected the pressure from the imperialists."

The law prescribes the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality or forcing children, the disabled, mentally ill persons and those of advanced age into homosexuality.

Attempted homosexuality will attract a 14-year jail term and up to 20 years for the promotion of homosexuality. Recruiters of children into homosexuality will be slapped with a ten-year jail sentence.

Anyone who "knowingly allow[s] their premises to be used for acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in jail.

Museveni's move to sign the Bill into law drew outrage from a section of Ugandans and the international community with the UK terming it "deeply discriminatory" and one that will "damage Uganda’s international reputation."

US President Joe Biden, a vocal proponent for LGBTQ+ rights, termed it a "shameful" and "tragic violation of universal human rights."

He said Washington was considering imposing "sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses."

"I join with people around the world—including many in Uganda—in calling for its immediate repeal," Biden said.

Rights activists and UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima faulted Museveni for assenting to the tough anti-gay Bill saying it would reverse the fight against HIV Aids.

She said the law will frustrate efforts by members of the LGBTQ+ community in accessing life-saving medical attention and in turn, undermine Uganda's HIV response.

"People living with HIV who happen to be also gay or transgender women will be further discriminated, there will be more discrimination, they will be pushed away from services that could save their lives," she said.