Is It Now Legal to Be Gay Uganda? | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• GAY PRI UGANDA
• UGANDA'S ANTI-GAY LAW: HOW RTRICTED ARE LGBTQ RIGHTS AI?
• ‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN KAMPALA, UGANDA
• IS IT NOW LEGAL TO BE GAY UGANDA?
• BEG GAY UGANDA
• UGANDA PASSED ONE OF THE WORLD’S HARSHT ANTI-GAY LAWS. LGBTQ PEOPLE SCRIBE LIVG THERE AS ‘HELL’
• A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
• NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
• UGANDA TO JAIL PEOPLE WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ANTI-GAY LAWS
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY

By CountryBy Year FoundA list of LGBT anizatns and groups Mori UgandaSexual Mori Uganda [SM-UG] is a non-prof, non-ernmental anisatn that works towards achievg full legal and social equaly for lbian, gay, bisexual…The Youth Empowerment Foundatn-TYEFThe youth Empowerment Foundatn (TYEF) is a Non- Governmental Organizatn that was formed 2009, and not yet registered. Media ptn, Watch: Cheers and applse as Uganda pass anti-gay billPeople who intify as gay Uganda risk life prison after parliament passed a new bill to crack down on homosexual activi. Homosexual acts are already illegal Uganda but this bill troduc many new crimal well as makg merely intifyg as gay illegal for the first time, iends, fay and members of the muny would have a duty to report dividuals same-sex relatnships to the was passed wh wispread support Uganda's parliament on Tuday eveng.

GAY PRI UGANDA

The bill's backers say they are tryg to protect children but Ms Byagaba said: "Whether you're heterosexual or homosexual, the ernment and parliament should troduce laws, or at least implement existg laws that protect all children - boys, girls om filement.

The fal versn has yet to be officially published but elements discsed parliament clu: A person who is nvicted of groomg or traffickg children for purpos of engagg them homosexual activi fac life prisonIndividuals or stutns which support or fund LGBT rights' activi or anisatns, or publish, broadst and distribute pro-gay media material and lerature, also face prosecutn and imprisonmentMedia groups, journalists and publishers face prosecutn and imprisonment for publishg, broadstg, distributn of any ntent that advot for gay rights or "promot homosexualy"Death penalty for what is scribed as "aggravated homosexualy", that is sexual abe of a child, a person wh disabily or vulnerable people, or s where a victim of homosexual asslt is fected wh a life-long illnsProperty owners also face risk of beg jailed if their premis are ed as a "brothel" for homosexual acts or any other sexual mori rights' activiA small group of Ugandan MPs on a mtee sctisg the bill disagreed wh s premise.

UGANDA'S ANTI-GAY LAW: HOW RTRICTED ARE LGBTQ RIGHTS AI?

They argue the offenc seeks to crimalise are already vered the untry's Penal Co 2014, Uganda's nstutnal urt nullified another act which had toughened laws agast the LGBT clud makg illegal to promote and fund LGBT groups and activi, as well as reeratg that homosexual acts should be punished by life imprisonment, and was wily nmned by Wtern urt led that the legislatn be revoked bee had been passed by parliament whout the required quom. Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, 24, a gay man om Uganda, a safe hoe Otieno for The New York TimIn a spartan safehoe wh flimsy curtas and no furnure northwt of the Kenyan pal, Nairobi, people om neighborg Uganda clung to the few valuabl they uld snatch while fleeg harsh new legislatn targetg them back home. A lbian uple clenched the one smartphone that held photos om happier days, gog on dat and dancg began leavg after Uganda’s Parliament passed a sweepg anti-gay bill late March that threatens punishment as severe as ath for some perceived offens, and lls for life prison for anyone engagg same-sex relatns.

“The ernment and the people of Uganda are agast our existence, ” said Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, a 24-year-old who fled wh a sgle backpack days after a hostile crowd, cludg children, rnered him as he bought groceri near a gay shelter the pal, Kampala. He spoke hours after the European Parliament nounced the legislatn follows a groundswell of anti-gay rhetoric that has swept Ain untri recent years, cludg Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. Last month, lawmakers om more than a dozen Ain untri gathered Uganda and promised to troduce or pass measur their own untri that they said would protect the sancty of the fay and children agast “the s of homosexualy.

‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW

And while anti-gay rhetoric has long existed Uganda, has taken a severe turn the past year, wh thori removg rabow lors om a park and parents chargg to a school bee they thought a gay person tght latt move to target L.

And anti-abortn stanc, acrdg to the Southern Poverty Law Ugandan bill has drawn nmnatn om human rights groups and the Uned Natns, and the Bin admistratn has lled “one of the most extreme” anti-gay measur anywhere the world.

The East Ain natn, a close secury ally of the Uned Stat, receiv more than $950 ln annually health and velopment months of mpaigng agast , gay rights activists Uganda are now planng to challenge the measure urt if is signed. In terviews, more than a dozen gay Ugandans who had fled to Kenya scribed how their iends, fay and neighbors turned agast them over the past year, as renewed anti-gay sentiment swept over the nservative Parliament, lawmakers promoted the basels allegatn that there was a plot to promote homosexualy schools. In the streets, Mlims marched agast them, and Christian church, clerics urged ngregants to rema watchful about efforts to lure their children to Augt, the thori took their most drastic actn yet when they closed Sexual Mori Uganda, the untry’s leadg gay rights Parliament adopted the bill March, dozens of L.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN KAMPALA, UGANDA

” It would also “jeopardize” Uganda’s progrs toward endg AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, the statement Ugandan bill is already spirg others across the ntent, cludg Kenya, where a recent Supreme Court cisn had allowed gay rights groups to register legally — a lg that has drawn vol cricism om the print and others. The are the people and muni where many rejoiced at the succsful overturng of Anti-Homosexualy Act and are entirely unncerned about who you love, so long as you show the same rpect as you would any other untry.

So if you are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr and nsirg jog for this great adventure, read this first hand acunt om our very own Lizzie Wright, who has spent a great al of time Uganda, and let that rm your cisn. My experience was somewhat different; most Ugandans I spoke to held pretty nonmtal views on homosexualy, only gatherg speed when asked what their reactn would be to their own son or dghters sexualy beg lled to qutn.

Gay and bisexual men were 92% Ugandan; 37% had unprotected receptive anal sex the last six months, 27% were paid for sex, 18% paid for sex, 11% had history of urethral discharge. When Uganda's Constutnal Court clared the notor Anti-Homosexualy Act "null and void" on Augt 1, the untry's lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and tersex (LGBTI) muny and human rights activists breathed a llective sigh of relief. The law also banned "aidg and abettg homosexualy" and keepg any home, room, or place "for the purpos of homosexualy, " provisns which led some Ugandan landlords to evict their LGBTI tenants.

IS IT NOW LEGAL TO BE GAY UGANDA?

Durg the vote on the Anti-Homosexualy Act, Rebec Kadaga, the parliament speaker and one of the bill's biggt cheerlears, flagrantly ignored objectns om the prime mister and another legislator that there was no quom. In short, that the urt stck down the Anti-Homosexualy Act on the quom issue was a victory self for the le of law: Parliamentary procre is equently flouted, and lawmakers rarely see any nsequenc. The judge led that Lokodo had the right to shut down the workshop, allegg that participants, simply by talkg about human rights for gay people, were "promotg" or "cg" same-sex acts that were prohibed by Article 145.

BEG GAY UGANDA

The judge even suggted that ndom distributn to gay people uld be unlawful -- a cisn that is pecially flammatory given Uganda's high HIV rat and failure recent years to make progrs tacklg the spread of the vis. " World lears who nmned the Anti-Homosexualy Act, and some s whheld or redirected aid while asssg the law's impact, did the right thg -- but failg to nmn other ser human rights ab by Meveni's regime, such as torture by the police and ary, the killgs of unarmed prottors 2009 and 2011, and ongog threats to civil society, they leave the imprsn of prrizg the rights of LGBTI people over other ncerns. A 2011 BBC documentary sensatnally labeled Uganda "the world's worst place to be gay, " but many LGBTI Ugandans reject that pictn as oversimplifyg a plex lol ntext which activists have managed to hold hard-earned ground the face of hostily.

Certaly, there are plenty of other ntenrs for the moniker: Nigeria, spe havg passed an equally egreg anti-gay law that crimaliz acts such as "the public show of same-sex amoro relatnship directly or directly" has received only a actn of the ternatnal nmnatn directed at Uganda. In Cameroon, meanwhile, LGBTI people are equently sentenced to prison on allegatns of nsensual sex, often after beg subjected to forced anal exams that purport to "prove" homosexualy. Foreign assistance Ai -- more and more reports have emerged of gay men beg arrted on "bchery" charg sce the ary's July 2013 otg of Mohamed Morsi, whout a peep of public objectn om the Uned Stat.

UGANDA PASSED ONE OF THE WORLD’S HARSHT ANTI-GAY LAWS. LGBTQ PEOPLE SCRIBE LIVG THERE AS ‘HELL’

In Rsia, too, gays mt ntend wh btaly om vigilante groups while fightg legislatn that prohibs makg posive statements about homosexualy -- legislatn that is spillg over to nearby untri, such as Kyrgyzstan, which has proposed even harsher laws agast so-lled gay "propaganda. Succsfully challengg homophobia and transphobia, Uganda and beyond, requir an endurg mment to workg wh lol civil society activists to challenge myriad anti-LGBTI polici -- not simply fleetg attentn to a one-off e célèbre such as featg Uganda's Anti-Homosexualy Act. ” “Aggravated homosexualy” clus people who have gay sex more than once, homosexual activy by an adult wh a person unr 18 years old, or homosexual activy iated by someone who is HIV posive.

The bill also prohibs any productn and dissematn of rmatn related to homosexualy and prcrib jail time for anyone (cludg iends, parents, doctors, and prits) who fails to report homosexual activy to the bill was met wh opposn om human rights groups, Wtern ernments, and some relig lears. Some agreed to be intified sce they had already been outed the Ugandan media, but the vast majory of people the gay muny do not want to be intified, and their stori rema project featur LGBT people Uganda, both activists and nonactivists, and prents their views on the proposed bill and homosexualy Ain society, their personal stori of stggle agast stigmatizatn and threats, and their hop for the future.

The act outlaws gay marriage Uganda, punish same-sex acts wh life imprisonment, and lls for the ath penalty for “aggravated homosexualy” – which clus sex wh a mor or otherwise vulnerable person, havg sex while HIV posive and ct.

A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED

In recent weeks, disturbg vios have surfaced showg mountg hostily towards lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and tersex dividuals Uganda sce the retroductn of the Anti-Homosexualy Bill. On Meveni’s remendatn, the law prcrib rehabilatn for nvicted homosexuals to change their sexual orientatn, even though scientists say so-lled nversn therapy is harmful and effective. The Church of Uganda openly fied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Jt Welby, and supported the Anti-Homosexualy Act, accg the global head of the Anglin Church of misterpretg the Bible.

Uganda is one of several Ain natns where is illegal to be queer; the natn enacted s Anti-Homosexualy Act 2014, which allowed for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts between nsentg adults, and dified the reprsn of LGBTQ Ugandans. The latt bill, ially passed by parliament March, tak Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ polici much further, punishg LGBTQ advocy wh up to 20 years prison and proposg the ath penalty for “aggravated homosexualy” — homosexual acts volvg children or members of other at-risk groups, or volvg a person who is HIV posive. Uganda was already hostile to LGBTQ people, even before the 2014 Anti-Homosexualy Act; lonial fluence was baked to the penal , and a 2009 bill lloquially lled the “kill the gays” bill sparked ternatnal outrage for a provisn that would allow gay people to be hanged.

The bill also required cizens to spy on their neighbors, iends, and fay members and report those they spected of beg LGBTQ or advotg for gay rights or face a three-year prison sentence, acrdg to a Human Rights Watch report at the time.

NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)

The 2023 bill also appli to trans and genr-nonnformg people, punishg wh up to 10 years prison anyone who “holds out as a lbian, gay, transgenr, a queer, or any other sexual or genr inty that is ntrary to the bary tegori of male and female. In realy, the US particular has fluenced or supported anti-LGBTQ polici and attus Uganda, particularly via evangelil groups like the Fellowship Foundatn, which had a hand craftg the 2009 “kill the gays” bill, acrdg to a 2020 report om Open Democracy. In 2012, SMUG sued Amerin evangelist Stt Lively a US urt for his role promotg the anti-LGBTQ agenda that fluenced the “kill the gays” bill and led to the persecutn of LGBTQ people Uganda.

“The prodigal son parable has propped up the ex-gay movement Uganda, ensurg there are open arms to gay people who n speak about prevly beg that life of ‘s’ and nounce their gayns publicly, ” Okereke wrote.

UGANDA TO JAIL PEOPLE WHO INTIFY AS LGBTQ ONE OF WORLD'S MOST ANTI-GAY LAWS

In 2014, I played a small part makg sure that anti-LGBTQI forc Uganda do not succeed wrg their hate to law: I was one of the petners the se that succsfully overturned the famo anti-gay law. While the efforts of LGBTQI mpaigners across the globe ma highly unlikely for Uganda to sign to law another “Kill the gays bill”, the fight for LGBTQI rights the untry and the rt of Ai is far om over.

The fear of retaliatn om the ternatnal muny may stop Uganda and other Ain untri om attemptg to officially crimalise homosexualy, but will not make beg gay socially acceptable on the ntent. Ultimately, will not matter how many urt s are won, or ernments prsured to cease anti-gay legislatn, or Ain lears backed by wtern money and tn elected wh the expectatn they will challenge public perceptns of homosexualy. Most Ains are refg to accept homosexualy not so much bee of their Christian beliefs, but bee they perceive as a “Wtern value” beg forcefully phed upon their societi by malignant and vasive outsi forc.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

Wh our youthful populatn, so many young, knowledgeable Ugandans, who do not rry strong anti-gay sentiments, and even support LGBTQI rights, are jog the electoral roll every electn cycle. Kenyan gays and lbians and others supportg their e wear masks to prerve their anonymy as they stage a rare prott agast Uganda's tough stance agast homosexualy and solidary wh their unterparts there, outsi the Uganda High Commissn Nairobi, Kenya, 2014. The UK ernment has been helpg to fund the work of a vilently homophobic relig anisatn Uganda, whose lears have backed a proposed law that would make intifyg as gay a crimal offence, a report has found.