A group of Ugandan activists is seeking to repeal the country’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which has been dubbed the “Kill the Gays” law.
Them reported in December that five judges in the capital city of Kampala have begun officially reviewing the arguments filed by an allied group of Ugandan academics, legislators, and LGBTQ+ activists. The suit aims to overturn the extreme bill that endorsed punishment up to death for members of the LGBTQ+ community that President Yoweri Museveni signed back in May of last year.
With the passage of the bill, Uganda became the fourth African country to make homosexuality punishable by death. A person charged with “aggravated homosexuality” would be subject to death under the bill. The bill defines aggravated homosexuality as having same-sex relations with someone who is HIV-positive, a minor, or anyone else whom the nation deems “vulnerable.”
According to Human Rights Watch, those who commit the “offense of homosexuality” can face imprisonment for up to a decade, and those who promote homosexuality can be imprisoned for up to 20 years. The law also targets transgender people, carrying the same decade sentence, and criminalizing anyone who identifies as anything “contrary to the binary categories of male and female.” Further criminalizing homosexuality, all homosexual acts are now considered “nonconsensual.”
Arizona Christian organization Family Watch International has been connected to the Ugandan bill. Family Watch International has been labeled an extremist hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center.
The organization’s President, Sharon Slater, allegedly has close ties with Ugandan president’s wife, Janet Museveni, as well as other supporters of the “Kill the Gay” law. The Christian organization was also a key organizer of the African Regional Inter-Parliamentary Conference that occurred a month before parliament passed the bill. Lawmakers and officials from more than a dozen countries in Africa attended the conference.
After the conference, Museveni tweeted on April 4th of 2023, “I recently had the honor of meeting with Ms. Sharon Slater, President of Family Watch International, & her team. They attended the first African Regional Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Uganda, focusing on global challenges that threaten African families & values.”
Uganda has a history of discriminatory practices against LGBTQ+ folks, but this bill has stirred global concerns given the harsh (which is putting it very lightly) sentencing. The country passed a similar law back in 2014, but the previous law had “lighter” punishments—”aggravated homosexuality” could result in life imprisonment, and the “promotion” of homosexuality was criminalized.
However, Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, the senior legal counsel to President Museveni, aided in overturning the discriminatory laws nearly a decade ago. He was also one of only two Ugandan MPs who voted against the most recent “Kill the Gays” law.
Fox Odoi-Oywelowo is joins advocates attempting to repeal the new bill. He told OpenDemocracy in March of last year:
“I don’t understand why heterosexuals are so timid in their skin, why they think that the LGBTIQ community is the greatest threat to the survival of mankind. If they are gay, let them live. The air you breathe will not be any less.”
With this new bill still in effect, queer folks, advocates, and allies in the country are under constant distress and direct assault. This ban is more than an attack on LGBTQ+ rights, it is a violation of human rights.
In times of great atrocity, advocates and displaced people are in need of support. If you have the time or funds, supporting relief programs can provide essential aid for communities under attack in Uganda.
You can find more information about organizations providing relief at their websites listed below.
