Looking Out: Uganda bill threatens life in prison for 'aggravated homosexuality'

While you were making your Yuletide gay in the last seven days, Nigeria and Uganda passed legislation to strengthen already-on-the-books laws criminalizing homosexuality.

Ugandan lawmakers last Friday passed legislation that would imprison for life people convicted of "aggravated homosexuality" and make it illegal for those aware of gay activities to not report them. The bill in question has been kicking around the country in some form since 2009. In its initial form, it threatened to make "aggravated homosexuality" (yes, I'm repeating this phrase because of how absurd it sounds) subject to the death penalty, provoking a global outcry.

In response, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that the U.S. is "deeply concerned" about the bill, adding "that no one should face violence for discrimination for who they are or whom they love." Not exactly a strong rebuke, especially compared to British billionaire Richard Branson's threat to pull all potential business from the country if Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signs the anti-gay bill into law. But it's a step in the right direction.

While Uganda may be the most visible country in Africa to criminalize being gay or gay sex, it hardly stands alone. Nigeria's Senate reportedly passed a comparable law Tuesday that even goes a step further by reportedly making membership to "gay clubs or organizations" illegal as well. According to the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association, 12 northern Nigerian states have made homosexuality punishable by death.

Both Nigeria and Uganda's bills now await the review of their respective presidents.

In other news:

In the wake of court decisions allowing same-sex marriage in Utah and New Mexico, it appears Indiana may be the next battleground in the fight for marriage equality. The New York Times calls the Hoosier State a "test case in whether a state will impose new limits on same-sex marriage in this fast-moving political and legal environment."
Almost six decades after British father of computing Alan Turing died from cyanide poisoning, Queen Elizabeth II finally issued him a pardon for the pesky homosexuality conviction he received in 1951. That's a great gesture and all, but it seems short-sighted to ignore the damage done to thousands of others who were convicted under Britain's sodomy law but don't have Turing's track record. Plus a pardon hardly undoes the chemical castration Turing was forced to undergo, which some say drove him to suicide.
Our Boxing Day present to you: This photo of newly out British diver Tom Daley wearing a "gay icon" apron, rainbow socks ... and very little else.
And, of course, you already know about a judge's ruling ordering Ohio to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages on death certificates. (You didn't? Well, you do now.)

Assuming you weren't too busy guzzling eggnog, what LGBT news had you talking this week?