Uganda Enacts Anti-LGBTQ+ Law

Facts

• Ugandan Pres. Yoweri Museveni on Sunday approved the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, which makes "engaging in acts of homosexuality" an offense punishable with life imprisonment.¹
• The law does not criminalize identifying as LGBTQ+ but imposes the death penalty on anyone found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality" and up to seven years in prison for "attempted homosexuality."²
• Any transmission of a terminal illness such as HIV/AIDS through gay sex is also punishable by death, while promoting homosexuality can lead to a 20-year jail sentence.³
• This comes as lawmakers earlier this month passed an amended version of an anti-homosexuality bill, after Museveni requested changes that differentiated between identifying as LGBTQ+ and engaging in homosexual acts.⁴
• In a joint statement, the US, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund said that the passing of the law put "Uganda's progress on its HIV response ... in grave jeopardy." Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, under a colonial-era law.⁵
• Meanwhile, the Ugandan MP who sponsored the bill reportedly expects it to prompt aid cuts and similar retaliatory measures by the West, adding that the US has already revoked the parliament speaker's current visa.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Washington Post, ³Reuters, ⁴POLITICO, ⁵BBC News, and ⁶Africa News.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Monitor. The spirit of the anti-homosexuality legislation aligns entirely with Uganda's values and moral fabric. Despite the pressure from imperialist powers, which have wreaked havoc in the world for centuries in seeking to impose their ideologies on Africans, the country's sovereignty will not be undermined.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. It's outrageous that Uganda still promotes the totally ludicrous notion that homosexuality deviates from human nature, even engaging in un-African, state-sponsored homophobia. Same-sex relationships have long been reported in the continent, debunking the fabricated narrative that homosexuality is a Western import.

Predictions