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US Urges Uganda to Reconsider New Anti-LGBT Law

FILE - Kenyan gays and lesbians and others supporting their cause wear masks to preserve their anonymity as they stage a rare protest against Uganda's tough stance against homosexuality and in solidarity with their counterparts there, outside the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya on Feb. 10, 2014. Ugandan lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday, March 21, 2023 prescribing jail terms of up to 10 years for offenses related to same-sex relations, responding to popular sentiment but piling more pressure on the East African country's LGBTQ community. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said anti-LGBT draft legislation passed by Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday undermines fundamental human rights and urged the government to reconsider implementing it.

The hastily passed bill says anyone identifying as LGBT could face a long prison sentence.

Individuals belonging to organisations supporting minority rights could also go to jail.

The legislation goes much further than Uganda’s existing laws which ban homosexual activity.

To become law it needs to be signed by President Yoweri Museveni, who has expressed anti-LGBT sentiment.

Rights groups and opposition politicians have said the bill promotes homophobia and transphobia.

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