All but two: The entire Ugandan parliament has passed a law providing for life imprisonment and the death penalty for homosexuals. He had already thought about it in 2014, but at that time the provision was rejected by the constitutional court because of “a lack of form”. This time only the signature of the presidential autocrat Yoveri Museveni, who has always opposed the rights of the Lgbtq+ community, is missing. The other evening, out of 389 MPs, only two members of the ruling party who are worth remembering by name voted “no”: Fox Odoi-Oywelowo and Paul Kwizera.
The halter law was introduced by fellow opposition figure Asuman Basalirwa “with the aim of protecting traditional family values.”
Homosexuality is illegal in at least thirty African countries. Uganda is at the forefront of this homophobic crowd. It’s also forbidden to say it: Anyone who declares themselves LGBTQ+ risks 20 years in prison. The death penalty is provided for cases of so-called “increased homosexuality” when minors or AIDS patients are involved.
The “anti-homosexuality law” has provoked outraged reactions inside and outside the small African country with the world’s youngest population (average age 16). US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of “a clear violation of the fundamental rights of all Ugandans” and called on the government not to encourage it.
Uganda has historically been a US ally, although Museveni (and his wife Janet, Secretary of Education) have often played on “cultural contrast” with the West to justify growing repression of homosexuals (for example, against Uganda’s sexual minorities, the largest NGO of LGBTQ+ fighters). Thunder international organizations, from Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch.
Famous activists in Uganda, such as Frank Mugisha and Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, have made their voices heard: “I am proud to be Ugandan – Kasha told the Guardian – and our fight against this law starts now.” Ordinary people suffer the most, eh the 110 people who reported in February (not to the authorities but to NGOs) that they had been victims of violence, abuse and stripping in public because they were “guilty” of being homosexual.
On March 16, a scornful Museveni announced on television that “Western countries should stop imposing their deviant practices on the rest of the world.” When is a triumphant visit of Russian Minister Lavrov to Kampala?