Uzbekistan’s president signed a new bill into law last week that could be used to arrest those who advocate for the decriminalization of homosexuality.
While the bill itself does not address homosexuality, the legislation does make it a crime to “insult and slander” President Shavkat Mirziyoyev online, without defining what would specifically offend Uzbek leaders. According to The Diplomat, a U.S.-based current affairs magazine, the new law also prohibits “disrespect for society, the state, state symbols (national and universal values),” as well as any call to public protest “in violation of the established order.”
These provisions, as LGBTQ+ rights activists warn, could be used to crack down on individuals pushing for reforms, including to the country’s draconian ban on homosexuality.
Despite being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Uzbekistan currently bans consensual same-sex sexual conduct under Article 120 of its criminal code, with penalties of up to three years in prison. According to a March report from the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, violence and persecution of LGBTQ+ is widespread, with police regularly kidnapping, prosecuting, and jailing people suspected of violating its sodomy laws.
Victims of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes are generally reluctant to go to police since they may face further abuse. Several years ago, a video circulated online showing a gang beating a man who they claimed was gay.
Article 120 is a holdover from Soviet-era prohibitions on homosexuality. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are the only former USSR states that still criminalize homosexuality, and the former has actually fought to strengthen its anti-LGBTQ+ laws in recent years. A bill currently under consideration would add language to Uzbekistan’s criminal code identifying same-sex activity as a crime “against family, children and morality.”
International observers are highlighting the need for massive reforms in the country.
“Article 120, and abuses linked to it, has placed gay and bisexual men in Uzbekistan in a deeply vulnerable and marginalized position, leaving them with almost no protection from harassment by police and others,” said Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “Uzbekistan should definitively turn a page from its abusive past and remove this rights-violating and outdated provision from its new Criminal Code.”
Authorities in Uzbekistan have taken a harsh approach to applying defamation laws in the past, using it to crack down on free expression. Similar laws already ban insulting the president in print media, but the new legislation extends those existing rules to online platforms, with penalties of up to 5 years in prison.
It’s a disappointing turnaround from news last year that Uzbekistan was considering an update to its harsh defamation laws, switching them from criminal offenses to civil.
Despite the human rights crisis, numerous American companies are currently expanding their presence in Uzbekistan. Those include McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm that once employed former presidential contender Pete Buttigieg. Others are General Electric, Boeing, Coca-Cola, John Deere, Baskin-Robbins, and Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.’s weekly newsletter here.
