22/09/2023
Uganda’s President Signs Repressive Anti-LGBT Law (May 2, 2023)
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed a bill criminalizing same s*x conduct, including potentially the death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homos*xuality,” into law.
The Anti-Homos*xuality Act of 2023 violates multiple fundamental rights guaranteed under Uganda’s constitution and breaks commitments made by the government as a signatory to a number of international human rights agreements.
Uganda’s penal code already punishes same-s*x conduct with life imprisonment – a criminal offense that is rarely prosecuted – but the new law creates new crimes such as the vaguely worded “promotion of homos*xuality” and introduces the death penalty for several acts considered as “aggravated homos*xuality.” It also increases the prison sentence for attempted same-s*x conduct to 10 years.
The law discriminates against people with disabilities, contrary to Uganda’s Constitution, by making the offence of homos*xuality aggravated if the “victim” has a disability, thereby denying persons with disabilities the capacity to consent to s*x. Anyone advocating for the rights of LGBT people, including representatives of human rights organizations or those providing financial support to organizations that do so, could face up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the “promotion of homos*xuality.”
Violence and discrimination against LGBT people is already prevalent in Uganda. After the government passed the now scrapped 2014 Anti-Homos*xuality Act, Human Rights Watch research found that people faced a notable increase in arbitrary arrests, police abuse, extortion, loss of employment, discriminatory evictions by landlords, and reduced access to health services because of their perceived s*xual orientation or gender identity. Over the years, Ugandan police have carried out mass arrests at LGBT pride events, at LGBT-friendly bars, and at homeless shelters on spurious grounds, and forced some detainees to undergo a**l examinations, a form of cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment that can, in some instances, constitute torture.
Ugandan Members of Parliament stand as they participate during the passing of the anti-Homos*xuality bill, at a sitting inside the Parliament Buildings in Kampala, Uganda, May 2, 2023.
07/12/2016
“We’re sick of hearing people say, “That band is so gay,” or “Those guys are fags.” Gay is not a synonym for sh*tty. If you wanna say something’s sh*tty, say it’s sh*tty. Stop being such homophobic assholes.”
― Pete Wentz
05/12/2016
An 8-year-old girl has been arrested in Uganda on the suspicion that she is gay.
Reports from the country claim that police are holding the child in custody after she was seen kissing her female friends.
Ugandan media reported that child protection police said the girl was arrested after a neighbour reported her for having “romantic relationship” with other girls of her age.
The girl has reportedly admitted to the offence of “engaging in inappropriate behaviour” according to Catherine Wobuyaga, the chief investigating officer for the case.
Victor Odero, a campaigner for Amnesty International in East Africa said: “The girl should be immediately and unconditionally released if she is still in detention.
“What she needs is protection and respect for her privacy, rather than being treated as a criminal.”
The young girl was taken from her home in Jinja, east of Kampala after neighbours reported her for having “romantic relationships” with girls her age.
She allegedly took the girls to a farmhouse nearby to engage in the “inappropriate behavior” that has led to her arrest.
Uganda has a history of anti-LGBT laws and policies, with police frequently raiding both LGBT beauty pageants and Pride parade events.
Uganda’s Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa has blamed the country’s anti-LGBT laws on British Colonialism. Speaking before a United Nations human rights panel, Kutesa contended that his country was not to blame for its current anti-LGBT laws.
Kutesa insisted: “Some people seem to think there is a law prohibiting LGBT people as a new act. There was a private members’ motion that was introduced in our Parliament to criminalise the activities of the LGBTI community. That motion was passed by Parliament and assented to – however, it was challenged in our Courts of Law, and the Courts of Law struck it out. It is not in place.”
05/12/2016
The international human rights community is celebrating Friday's ruling by a Ugandan constitutional court striking down a recently passed law that imposed lengthy jail sentences for both "attempted homos*xuality" and "promotion of homos*xuality," as reported by The Associated Press.
The United Nations head called the decision a “step forward,” Amnesty International hailed it as a “significant victory” and the Human Rights Campaign commended “the courageous lawyers, advocates, and allies who stood up for the human rights of LGBT Ugandans.”
Nevertheless, activists promoting the rights of le***an, gay, bis*xual and transgender people in Uganda still expressed concern over what's next. Ty Cobb, director of global engagement for the Human Rights Campaign, tells U.S. News in an email that future anti-gay efforts in Uganda could result in “very real and even violent consequences for LGBT people.”
Of immediate worry is the risk that LGBT people and their advocates will face a violent response to the law’s nullification. “Many people are going to retaliate and attack community members,” Kasha Jacqueline of the group Freedom and Roam Uganda, one of the law’s challengers, told BuzzFeed.
Looking down the road, there’s also the expected political backlash.
05/12/2016