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National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby speaks during a daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House on March 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. During the briefing, Kirby took questions on a range of topics including the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — A Biden administration spokesman on Tuesday took aim at a new piece of legislation in majority-Christian Uganda that would impose strict criminal penalties for homosexuality, arguing that the furtherance of so-called “LGBTQ+ rights” is “a core part of” U.S. “foreign policy and will remain so.”

“President Biden has been nothing but consistent about his belief, foundational belief, in human rights – and LGBTQ+ rights are human rights,” National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby said during a March 21 press conference in which he joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

U.S. President Joe Biden has previously declared it to be the policy of the U.S. “to lead by the power of our example in the cause of advancing the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons around the world.” 

“We’re never going to shy away [or] be bashful about speaking up for those rights and for individuals to live as they deem fit, as they want to live,” Kirby told reporters. “And that’s something that’s a core part of our foreign policy and that will remain so.”

Kirby’s remarks came in reference to a new legislative proposal in Uganda that would impose stricter curbs on homosexuality.

Uganda’s parliament passed the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” Tuesday with broad support, scoring 389 votes in favor with only two lawmakers not voting in support, The Guardian reported. The controversial measure, decried by proponents of the LGBT agenda, would provide strict penalties for homosexual behavior and identification, up to and including the death penalty in certain instances of rape and child molestation. 

Uganda’s Minister for Works Ecweru Musa Francis spoke out forcefully in favor of the new legislation last week, describing it as a means of safeguarding the country’s morals and protecting its children.

“In our country, we will have our morals. We will protect our children. We are making this law for ourselves. We are making this law for our children. We are making this law for the children of our children,” he said. “This country will stand firm … homosexuals have no space in Uganda.” 

On Wednesday Voller Turk, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, called the bill’s passage “a deeply troubling development” and urged the country’s president not to sign it into law.  

Meanwhile, Kirby isn’t the only U.S. official to openly denounce Uganda for its legislation.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued the “Anti-Homosexuality Act passed by the Ugandan Parliament yesterday would undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.” 

“We urge the Ugandan Government to strongly reconsider the implementation of this legislation,” he said. 

The White House press secretary also weighed in, alleging the law “would impinge upon universal human rights” and “damage Uganda’s international reputation” among other accusations.

READ: Ugandan parliament passes ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill,’ infuriating the pro-LGBT West

Despite complaints from the U.S. and the U.N., however, Uganda has stood firm in resisting radical pro-abortion and LGBT ideology pushed by leftist western nations and intergovernmental organizations, and its legislative opposition to homosexuality is nothing new.

Homosexual activities have explicitly carried criminal penalties under the law since at least Uganda’s time as a British protectorate, which ranged from the late 19th century until 1962. Moreover, life imprisonment is already a possible consequence of violating the country’s prohibition of “unnatural acts” in the country’s Penal Code Act of 1950, though the section is rarely enforced in practice.

While Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has yet to sign the bill, he signaled his own opposition to LGBT ideology last week by calling on western nations to cease promoting the agenda in his country. 

“The western countries should stop wasting the time of humanity by imposing their social practices on us,” Museveni said during an address to parliament.

“In Europe, people marry their cousins but in Uganda and some other parts of Africa, it is taboo to marry your cousin, so should we impose sanctions on them? That is not our problem,” he remarked.

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