Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signs an anti-homosexual bill into law at the state house in Entebbe, 36 km (22 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala February 24, 2014. 
 
 WASHINGTON The United States on Thursday cut aid to Uganda, imposed visa restrictions and canceled a regional military exercise in response to a Ugandan law that imposes harsh penalties on homosexuality. 
 
 The White House said in a statement the measures were intended to "reinforce our support for human rights of all Ugandans regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity." 
 
 Homosexuality is taboo in most African countries and illegal in 37, including in Uganda where it has been a crime since British rule. 
 
 Uganda's new law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, imposes jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" which includes homosexual sex with a minor or while HIV-positive. 
 
 Widely condemned by donor countries, the law also criminalizes lesbianism for the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts. 
 
 Western donors, including the United States, had halted or re-directed about $118 million in aid to the east African nation's economy before Thursday's announcement. 
 
 The White House said on Thursday the United States would impose visa restrictions on Ugandans it believes have been involved in human rights violations, including gay rights. 
 
 The United States will halt $2.4 million in funding for a Ugandan community policing program in light of a police raid on a U.S.-funded health program at Makerere University and reports of people detained and abused while in police custody. 
 
 In addition, Washington will shift some funding for salaries and travel expenses of Ugandan health ministry employees to non-governmental agencies involved in health programs. 
 
 It will also reallocate $3 million in funding for a planned national public health institute in Uganda to another African country, which it did not name. A National Institutes of Health genomics meeting would be moved from Uganda to South Africa, the White House said. 
 
 It also canceled plans for a U.S.-sponsored military exercise in Uganda that was meant to include other East African countries. A date had not yet been set for the exercise. 
 
 Uganda is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in Somalia, where Ugandan troops for the backbone of the African Union force battling al Qaeda-aligned militants. 
 
 U.S. special forces have also been involved in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the elusive rebel commander seeking to topple the Ugandan government. Kony is believed to be hiding in the jungles of central Africa. 
 
 In Kampala, a government official asked about the U.S. measures said that Uganda would not alter its decision to toughen laws against homosexuals. 
 
 "Uganda is a sovereign country and can never bow to anybody or be blackmailed by anybody on a decision it took in its interests, even if it involves threats to cut off all financial assistance," government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said. 
 
 U.S. President Barack Obama previously told Museveni the law would complicate relations between the two countries. Since then Washington has been reviewing its funding to Uganda, while privately pressing Museveni's government to repeal the law. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kampala; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Cynthia Osterman) ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is imposing visa bans on Ugandan officials who are involved in corruption and are violating the rights of gay people and others. 
 
 The Obama administration did not identify the targeted officials. 
 
 Uganda passed a law in February that strengthened criminal penalties for gay sex and made life sentences possible for those convicted of breaking the law. 
 
 Human rights groups have reported a surge in rights abuses of gay people since the law took effect. 
 
 "LGBT rights are human rights and the steps taken today make clear that the United States will take action to defend those rights," U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power said in a statement. "The discriminatory law in Uganda that criminalizes homosexual status should be repealed, as should laws and policies in the more than 76 countries around the world that criminalize homosexuality. We will do everything we can to work with governments and our non-government partners to end anti-gay discrimination around the world." 
 
 The U.S. already has said it would discontinue or redirect several million dollars in assistance to Uganda. The Pentagon also canceled a training exercise in Uganda. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights U.S. pulls funding from Uganda's government 
 
 Move is in response to Uganda's anti-gay law 
 
 Washington also cancels a planned military exercise 
 
 Uganda's President signed measure earlier this year 
 
 Uganda's government institutions will lose U.S. funding as punishment for a law signed earlier this year by President Yoweri Museveni that makes some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison. 
 
 In addition, the White House said Thursday that Washington will cancel a planned military exercise with Uganda and deny entry to certain Ugandan citizens, including those "involved in serious human rights abuses, including against LGBT individuals." 
 
 The United States will not end its humanitarian support for Uganda or its cooperation to stamp out the Lord's Resistance Army, led by the elusive Joseph Kony 
 
 "We will seek to advance these interests even as we continue -- in Uganda and around the world -- to oppose discriminatory practices and champion human rights for all," read the statement by White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. 
 
 Uganda's anti-homosexuality act, first introduced in 2009, originally included a death penalty clause for some such acts. It was briefly shelved when Britain and other European nations threatened to withdraw aid to Uganda, which relies on millions of dollars from the international community. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Gay Ugandan speaks out about new law Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gay Ugandan speaks out about new law 05:56 
 
 JUST WATCHED Branson to boycott Uganda over law Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Branson to boycott Uganda over law 03:36 
 
 JUST WATCHED Gay Ugandans committing suicide Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gay Ugandans committing suicide 02:30 
 
 Museveni signed the bill into law in February, two months after Uganda's Parliament passed it after replacing a death penalty provision with a proposal of life in prison for "aggravated homosexuality." This includes acts in which one person is infected with HIV, "serial offenders" and sex with minors, according to Amnesty International. 
 
 The law calls for the imprisonment of those who counsel or reach out to gays and lesbians -- a provision that would ensnare rights groups and others providing services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 
 
 Museveni's position on the law changed several times before he signed it. 
 
 At one point, he said he wouldn't sign the bill, describing homosexuals as "sick" people who needed help, not imprisonment. 
 
 He said he changed his mind after scientists had determined that there is no gene for homosexuality and that it is merely a choice to embrace abnormal behavior.
– Uganda's harsh new anti-gay law—which makes "aggravated homosexuality" punishable by life in prison—is costing the country: The US yesterday cut aid to Uganda over it, and didn't stop there. It slapped visa restrictions on Ugandans believed by the US to have been involved in human rights violations or corruption, the AP reports; a planned National Institutes of Health meeting will be moved from Uganda to South Africa; and a planned military exercise with Uganda has been axed. Among the aid cuts: $2.4 million that was meant to fund a Ugandan community policing program has been halted, and $3 million planned to fund a national public health institute will be reallocated to another unnamed African country. The moves "reinforce our support for human rights of all Ugandans regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," the White House said in a statement, according to Reuters. But a government spokesperson in Uganda was unswayed: "Uganda is a sovereign country and can never bow to anybody or be blackmailed by anybody on a decision it took in its interests, even if it involves threats to cut off all financial assistance," he says. And Uganda has experienced more than threats: Before yesterday's announcement it had already seen $118 million in aid from Western donors pulled. The US will continue its involvement in the hunt for Joseph Kony, CNN notes.