Helping OUr LGBTQ+ Brothers and Sisters in Ugandan
For more than a decade, Uganda was a model of effective HIV education, treatment, and research. The country’s HIV death rate was slashed by nearly 90% between 1990 and 2019, and Uganda set a goal of zero new infections by 2030.
But in those same years, Uganda’s Parliament and President, with the active encouragement of American evangelicals, debated and passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws that were among the world’s harshest, culminating in the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023. The consequences over the years have been dire, and only worsened with the 2023 law. LGBTQ+ Ugandans have been subject to an alarming increase in harassment, abuse, arrest, and attack. Medical clinics, LGBTQ+ support organizations, and human rights groups have been shut down. The number of Ugandans presenting for HIV testing or treatment has dropped dramatically, in large part because the law requires doctors to report any patient suspected of homosexuality. Uganda’s progress against HIV is threatened.
A coalition of Ugandan human rights activists, journalists, religious leaders, academics, and lawyers has launched an appeal of the law to the Constitutional Court of Uganda on the grounds that it violates both Uganda’s Constitution and international agreements signed by Uganda. Arguments before the Court have been concluded, and a final decision by the court is imminent.
RWF has been supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Uganda since 2014. We fund shelter, safe passage, and medical care for people in imminent danger, and fund individuals and groups who promote the human rights of the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community.
2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Although same-sex acts were already illegal in Uganda, the new law, passed by Parliament on May 2, 2023, and signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on May 26, goes much further. Under the new law:
The maximum penalty for homosexual acts is life imprisonment, while the maximum penalty for attempted homosexual acts is imprisonment for 10 years. Furthermore, people convicted of homosexuality or attempted homosexuality cannot be employed in childcare facilities even after release.
The maximum penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" is death, while the maximum penalty for attempted "aggravated homosexuality" is imprisonment for 14 years. Furthermore, people convicted of aggravated homosexuality or attempted aggravated homosexuality cannot cannot be employed in childcare facilities even after release. Aggravated homosexuality is defined as sexual intercourse with a person older than 75 or younger than 18, a person not consenting or unable to consent, or a disabled or mentally ill person. Serial offenders (meaning those who were convicted of homosexuality multiple times) are also defined as "aggravated homosexuals".
The maximum penalty for minors convicted of homosexuality is imprisonment for 3 years.
The maximum penalty for knowingly renting premises to people who wish to engage in homosexual acts on such a premise is imprisonment for 10 years.
The maximum penalty for promoting homosexuality is imprisonment for 20 years.
The maximum penalty for sharing homosexual pornography with a minor is imprisonment for 20 years.
The maximum penalty for recruitment or transportation of a child to facilitate homosexual sex is imprisonment for life.
The maximum penalty for "purporting to contract a same-sex marriage", as well as for knowingly attending a purpoted same-sex marriage ceremony is imprisonment for 10 years.
The maximum penalty for failing to report a witnessed homosexual act is imprisonment for 5 years. Lawyers acting in their official capacity are exempt from this provision.
The maximum penalty for falsely accusing another person of homosexuality is imprisonment for 1 year.
Additionally, the Ugandan National Bureau for NGOs of Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating operations of NGOs (nonprofits) suspected to be involved in promotion of LGBTQ+ activities. The NGO Bureau has emphasized that the government should “comprehensively criminalize” activities that promote homosexuality in the country and lay down stringent requirements for registration of civil society Organisations, a leaked report reveals, and that “Individuals linked to organizations involved in promoting LGBTQ+ activities should be profiled and mechanisms put in place to prevent them from forming other Organisations for similar purpose.
Impact
The law further scapegoated the LGBTQ+ community, and has fueled widespread hatred, discrimination, and violence. The vast majority of Ugandans support the law, and much of the violence comes at the hands of vigilante groups or individuals. Transgender Ugandans are particularly targeted.
LGBTQ+ Ugandans have been blackmailed, fired from their jobs, rejected by their families, and made homeless by their landlords.. They are attacked, beaten, arrested, tortured, killed, and have faced sexual and psychological violence including forced anal examinations by the police. A small number of Ugandans have been charged with “aggravated homosexuality,” and face the death penalty if convicted.
The Ugandan government is investigating organizations suspected of promoting homosexuality, and has closed some down. Shelters and medical clinics serving LGBTQ+ people have been closed or cut their hours, and medical providers have been harassed or threatened. The number of Ugandans presenting for HIV testing or treatment has fallen dramatically.
On December 18, 2023 The Constitutional Challenge to the Anti-Homosexuality Act begins
“The Convening For Equality welcomes the expediency of the Judiciary in hearing the challenge. After so much violence and devastation brought about by this wrong-headed law, we are grateful that this day has finally come for the justices to hear the many ways the Anti-Homosexuality Act blatantly violates Uganda’s constitution,” said Frank Mugisha, of Sexual Minorities Uganda, and Convening For Equality (CFE) Co-convener. “It should have no place in Uganda’s law books.”
Arguments will center on the ways in which the law violates substantive rights to equality, dignity, privacy, freedom of speech, association and health as well as freedom from discrimination. Lawyers challenging the law will also argue that the parliamentary process lacked the opportunity for meaningful or adequate public participation as required by the constitution, among other procedural issues.
“The evidence of the discrimination and violence that has been wrought by government employees and private citizens since the law came into force is overwhelming,”said Clare Byarugaba, of Chapter Four Uganda and Convening For Equality (CFE) Co-convener “It cannot and should not be allowed to stand. Nullification of this law is the only way forward.”
Much of Uganda society has turned its back on the LGBTQ+ community. The challenge to the Anti-Homosexuality Act is sure to further increase the risk for the LGBTQ+ community.
How you can help:
Since 2014, Rainbow World Fund has worked with trusted Ugandan partners to provide emergency legal and humanitarian aid to hundreds of LGBTQ+ Ugandans fleeing persecution or arrest. Leaders and members of organizations that we support have been arrested for “promoting homosexuality,” and periodically have had to go into hiding. The government shut down our partner organization’s website and closed their offices. RWF has been flooded with requests for help, and continues to send funds to Uganda for emergency shelter, food, medical care, travel support, and legal aid.
DONATE NOW: Help LGBTQ+ UgandaN’s achieve hope, safety, and dignity. Please select “Uganda LGBTQ+ Emergency Fund” when you are asked how to apply your donation!
LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda
LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda are severely restricted, as described above. Same-sex acts, and supportive activities, are criminalized, and violent attacks by other Ugandan citizens is common. LGBTQ+ Ugandans are subject to loss of job or housing, harassment, attack, arrest, torture, and death. Same-sex marriages have been banned since 2005. With the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Law of 2023, Uganda became the first and only Christian-majority country to impose the death penalty for some types of consensual same, sex acts.
Sexual Minorities Uganda vs Scott Lively
Perhaps the most notorious American Christian actively spreading hate towards LGBTQ+ people in Uganda has been Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries, an organization based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Known for declaring homosexuals responsible for the Holocaust, Lively has visited Uganda many times and spoken extensively with Cabinet ministers and members of Parliament who then were involved in writing and passing the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Lively worked with the California branch of the fundamentalist anti-gay American Family Association, and later with the Oregon Citizens Alliance. During his time with the latter, the OCA helped introduce anti-gay measures on the ballot, though these measures were defeated. He has also worked against LGBTQ+ rights in Eastern Europe and in former republics of the USSR, in alliance with an organization named Watchmen on the Wall.
In 2012, Lively was sued by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of an LGBTQ+ rights organization named Sexual Minorities Uganda, under the Alien Tort Statute. The lawsuit accused Lively of violating international law by conspiring to persecute the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community. In 2017, the suit was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Lively’s Abiding Truth Ministries, the American Family Association, and Watchmen of the Wall have all been declared anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Lively himself has been listed in the SPLC’s “Extremist Files.”
