Posted on 03/23/2023 06:00
(Credit: Stuart Tibaweswa/AFP)
Ugandan Steven Kabuye, 25, receives death threats online almost every day. They often come from family and friends. “On the phone, a colleague warned that he would cut me into pieces as soon as he saw me. I am openly gay and that will make me a criminal if the law is sanctioned by President Yoweri Museveni,” he admitted post. Being LGBTQIA in Uganda could soon cost lifelong freedom and, in some cases, the death penalty. The country’s parliament unanimously passed the antihomosexuality law.
According to the text, anyone involved in homosexual “acts” could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Anyone caught having sex with people of the same sex faces life imprisonment. The bill also provides for the death penalty for citizens accused of “elevated homosexuality” homosexual relationships with minors under the age of 18 or if the offender is a carrier of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Children face up to three years in prison if convicted. Mere identification with the LGBTQIA acronym is criminalized.
“The law affects gays, lesbians, transgender people and queers (people who transition between genders). Any Ugandan caught having sex with people of the same sex will be punished with life imprisonment,” commented Kabuye. Newspapers, magazines and TV stations that promote or show content deemed gay risk being shut down and journalists sentenced to 20 years in prison.
morale protection
Anita Annet Among, Speaker of Parliament, said the law “protects” the nation’s morale. “This House will not hesitate to limit any right to the extent that it recognizes, protects and upholds the sovereignty of this country and its morals,” Among said.
Ecweru Musa Francis, Minister for Labor and Transport, spoke at the podium and called LGBTQIA supporters “bad people”. “For anyone who can reasonably say that it (homosexuality) is okay and that destroying someone else’s anus is a right… That person is bad,” he explained. The UN and the United States called on Museveni to veto the text. The White House warned of the risk of “economic impact”.
LGBTQIA activist Ronald Agaba, 26, called the text “a genocidal statement based on false accusations of recruitment and promotion and attachment to religious beliefs to get us out of Uganda,” he told the Courier. “It’s barbaric and inhuman.”
According to Agaba, homosexuals are viewed as “a threat to family and procreation”. “We have endured a wave of severe hatred that has led to the closure of organizations accused of recruiting children into schools for homosexuality. Pastors and bishops use the Bible to see us as inadequate. I’m afraid.”
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LGBTQIA+ votes
Ronald Agaba, 26, LGBTQIA+ activist, unemployed, resident of Kampala (Photo: Personal Archive)
“I cannot talk about the future because the free life of a gay man in Uganda is at stake. I envision statesponsored genocide, a more hostile environment to the point where we can no longer rent a home, see a lack of housing for LGBTQIA+ people, denial of medical care and job opportunities, high suicide rates. For those who choose to live, I predict high rates of mental illness in gay men due to trauma and depression.”
Ronald Agaba, 26, LGBTQIA+ activist, unemployed, residing in Kampala
Steven Kabuye, 25, LGBTQIA+ activist, resident of Kampala (Photo: Personal Archive)
“After passing the law, the Speaker of Parliament said they did it for the safety of Uganda’s children and for the good of African culture. The country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, called homosexuality unnatural and a depravity. I believe there is a 95% chance that he will pass this law. Only two Ugandan MPs opposed the text. This law will criminalize any place that supports or promotes the LGBTQIA+ cause.”