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STORY: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will send a bill containing some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation back to parliament for amendments, the ruling party's chief whip said on Thursday.

A group of lawmakers from the ruling National Resistance Movement discussed the bill with the president and agreed in principle to sign the bill into law, said chief whip Denis Hamson Obua.

"The bill is yet to be returned to Parliament subject to the Tuesday meeting, but the president in principle congratulated the members of parliament on two fronts: one, for the strong stance on the anti-homosexuality bill, and two, for rejecting pressure from the imperialists."

He said the bill was being sent back to "facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions."

"The bill remains the anti-homosexuality bill 2023."

Human rights activists and the U.S. government say the bill – which was passed last month with near unanimous support – is among the harshest pieces of legislation penalizing sexual minorities anywhere in the world.

The United Nations, European Union and a long list of corporate giants have condemned it.

It would impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex when HIV-positive, and 20-year sentences for “promoting” homosexuality.

The European Parliament condemned the bill Thursday.

Here’s Swedish member Malin Bjork:

"The proposed Ugandan bill imposing death penalty for consensual same-sex relations is simply horrific. Death for being who we are. It releases an avalanche of hate, violence, scapegoating."

The bill has already triggered a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks against LGBTQ+ Ugandans, members of the community say.

Ugandan photographer and LGBTQ+ rights activist Papa De DeLovie Kwagala was living in South Africa when the bill passed.

“Let me give you a picture of how it is in Uganda right now: Queer people are being thrown out, backed up by law. They do not have housing anymore, they do not have shelter. There is no safety whatsoever. That’s what I can say about that. Queer people can’t get medication, queer people can’t get education, and at the moment, there is a lot of mob justice that is happening, beating people up, killing people, suicide rates are also rising.”

Museveni is a strong opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, having signed a law in 2014 stiffening penalties for same-sex relations.

That law was nullified within months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.

Museveni faces a possible juggling act trying to keep lawmakers happy over legislation that has broad popular support while not antagonizing foreign donors who provide billions of dollars in aid each year.