Three East African countries are tightening the noose on the so-called promotion of homosexuality through new laws and banning LGBTQ-specific content.

Lawmakers in Uganda and Kenya have introduced bills that would curtail the promotion of LGBTQ-specific activities with stiff penalties above their respective penal codes that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations. Tanzania has recently banned LGBTQ-specific books.

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2022, would sentence anyone who identifies with “lesbianism, gay, transgender, queer or any other sexual or gender identity contrary to the binary categories of male and female” to 10 years in prison. 

The proposed law that was set to be tabled any time after its postponement on Wednesday for further preparation would impose a 5-year prison sentence or a fine of around $27,000 or both to anyone who is found guilty of promoting homosexuality in Uganda. The measure’s definition of promotion includes production, procuring, marketing, broadcasting, disseminating using electronic devices, publishing LGBTQ pornography and funding or sponsoring homosexuality. 

Uganda’s latest move follows a growing number of LGBTQ-specific activities in the country that include the painting of rainbow colors at a children’s park in January that a local council removed because it went “against the norms of the people of Uganda.” 

Moreover, Uganda’s NGO Bureau, which monitors NGOs that operate in the country, in January recommended a new law that “prohibits the promotion of LGBTQ activities in the country.”

Also, the move results from the Church of England’s decision earlier this year to allow its priests to bless same-sex couples. This angered the Anglican Church of Uganda and Muslims who called upon MPs to crack down on homosexuality through legislation.      

Anyone convicted of providing a house, a brothel or any other place in which LGBTQ-specific activities can take place could face up to seven years in jail under the new bill.

“Where the offender is a corporate body or a business or an association or a non-governmental organization, on conviction its certificate of registration shall be canceled and the director, proprietor or promoter shall be liable to two years imprisonment on conviction,” the bill reads. 

Anyone found guilty of conducting a same-sex marriage could face up to two years in prison and the business that hosts such a ceremony could lose their business license.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has cautioned Uganda’s Parliament against proceeding with the bill, while noting that the “State has a duty to ensure full protection of all people from violence and discrimination regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” 

Frank Mugisha, a Ugandan LGBTQ and intersex rights activist, has raised concerns about a rising number of homophobic attacks committed by people and security officials in the country since January.

“The LGBTQ community continues to face a harsh operational environment, an increase in direct and indirect attacks, and surveillance in its spaces. This has made it difficult for LGBTQ organizations to do advocacy and deliver services to the communities because of the fear of being arrested by security agencies,” Mugisha said in a statement. 

He has documented dozens of harassment and assault incidents to LGBTQ and intersex people, including one on February 18 where a transgender woman residing in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, was assaulted at a friend’s party after discovering her gender.       

In Kenya, a bill that would further criminalize and punish people who engage in homosexuality and promote it is poised to be introduced in the country’s Parliament. 

“The proposed law intended to further the provision of Article 45 (2) of the Constitution of Kenya and to protect the family will not only consolidate the existing laws relating to unnatural sexual acts but also increase the penalty for those convicted of engaging or promoting the acts to imprisonment for life or consummate sentence,” reads the notification. “Article 45 (2) of the constitution provides that every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex based on the free consent of the parties to start a family, which is recognized as the natural and fundamental unit of society.”

Last week’s Supreme Court ruling that allows an LGBTQ and intersex rights group, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, to register as an NGO after years of court battles with the country’s NGOs Board has elicited criticism from religious leaders, lawmakers, the president and Kenyans themselves.

“We respect our court’s decisions but in Kenya, we have our culture, traditions, and religious beliefs. We can’t go the road of women marrying women or men marrying men. Same-sex marriage will happen somewhere else and not in Kenya,” President William Ruto stated on March 2 at a women’s function in Nairobi, the country’s capital.

Pressure is mounting on the seven Supreme Court judges to reverse the ruling, with Attorney General Justin Muturi vowing to challenge it. Muslim and Christian groups have planned a March 17 protest against the ruling.

The ruling has put the judges in a bind since a Supreme Court decision is final and cannot be appealed in any court in the country. The East African Court of Justice, which is based in Arusha, Tanzania, can consider an appeal.

Critics of the ruling argue that the queer group does not deserve an association, since Kenya’s penal code criminalizes homosexuality and the Supreme Court decision gives leeway for legalizing it from an appeal pending in the country’s second highest court.

Thirteen groups that include the American Jewish World Service, Amnesty International-Kenya, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the Kenya Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued a joint statement in support of the ruling. 

“The judgment has demonstrated the great strides that Kenya has taken to promote the rule of law, democracy, and human rights,” it reads.

The groups insist that granting the LGBTQ and intersex community the right to form associations is in line with the spirit of Kenya’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression under Article 33 and freedom of association under Article 27 without any form of discrimination.

Tanzania, which also criminalizes same-sex relations, has joined neighboring Kenya and Uganda in restricting LGBTQ and rights. 

President Samia Suluhu last month described LGBTQ rights as “imported cultures” as she cautioned university students against it. 

The Tanzanian government recently banned a popular series of children’s books from schools that contain LGBTQ-specific content. 

“The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by U.S. author Jeff Kinney and another book, “Sex Education: A Guide to Life” were removed from libraries in public and private schools. The government has also committed to increasing its surveillance on books with LGBTQ-specific content.