Tag Archives: Uganda

Reuters reports: Uganda’s constitutional court on Wednesday refused to annul or suspend an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, but found some of its provisions inconsistent with certain fundamental human rights. In particular the court said the section of the legislation requiring the mandatory reporting to authorities of people suspected of having committed homosexual offences …

From the office of GOP Rep. Tim Walberg: Despite inaccurate reports circulating, the transcript clearly shows that Congressman Walberg never endorsed any legislation or law while in Uganda. He did call out the World Bank for repeatedly holding Uganda, a Christian nation, to a different standard than much of the rest of the world. There is an undeniable double standard …

Salon reports: In a little-noticed October speech in Uganda, Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., urged that nation to stand behind its new Anti-Homosexuality Act, which includes the death penalty. Walberg’s remarks came at Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast. His trip to attend the event was paid for by the secretive U.S. group behind the National Prayer Breakfast. As the keynote speaker of …

The New York Times reports: Since the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, as the law is officially known, there have been arrests and hundreds of human rights violations involving L.G.B.T.Q. people, according to a report by Convening for Equality, a coalition of human rights groups. More quietly, the law is exacting a grim economic toll. The hospitality industry …

Reuters reports: A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality”, an offence punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law, prosecutors and his lawyer said. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated”, which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly …

Reuters reports: Mohamed Ali [photo] doesn’t believe gay Africans exist. He says homosexuality is a Western invention imposed on the continent. Openly gay Africans are liars seeking visas to the West or money from rights groups, he adds. Ali is a member of Kenya’s parliament. He is desperate to follow neighbour Uganda by unleashing a sweeping legislative crackdown on LGBTQ …

Newsweek reports: A brewery in California announced on Monday that it was cutting ties with a professional fisherman after he expressed support for a new anti-gay law in Uganda. “We learned of Mr Dyer’s view this morning and immediately severed our relationship with him. We could not disagree more strenuously with Mr. Dyer’s view and the abomination that is going …

The Daily Beast reports: Even the odious Sen. Ted Cruz expressed outrage at Uganda’s draconian new anti-LBGTQ statutes. But Cruz’s rare moment of moral truth was immediately challenged by the same pastor who delivered the invocation at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ second inauguration. “Tell it to God, Ted,” Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, tweeted in reply. …

Via press release from the White House: The enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act is a tragic violation of universal human rights—one that is not worthy of the Ugandan people, and one that jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the entire country. I join with people around the world—including many in Uganda—in calling for its immediate repeal. No one …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday got pushback from some of his followers after he condemned a newly passed law in Uganda that makes homosexuality a crime that is punishable by death. Writing on Twitter, Cruz, who has long been an opponent of LGBTQ rights in the United States, argued that executing people simply for being gay …

Bloomberg News reports: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law legislation with harsher penalties for LGBTQ people, including death and life-imprisonment sentences. The president “has assented” to the bill, which now becomes law, his office announced in a post on its Twitter account. Parliament had approved an earlier version of the bill in March, but Museveni returned it to lawmakers …

The Associated Press reports: Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a new version of an anti-gay bill that removes a clause which appeared to criminalize identifying as LGBTQ. President Yoweri Museveni [photo] last month returned the bill back to the national assembly, asking for changes that differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ and actually engaging in homosexual acts. The new law prescribes …

Reuters reports: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he would sign some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation once provisions are added to “rehabilitate” gay people, vowing not to cede to international pressure. The United States, European Union and major corporations have condemned the bill. Museveni predicted Uganda would face sanctions once the legislation goes into effect, as it did in …

From the George W. Bush Presidential Center: President Museveni shouldn’t sign this violation of the universal human rights of expression and association. It singles out a minority population – the LGBTQ community. While it should be opposed on that basis alone, it also could be exploited to go after any critics or opponents of the government by accusing them of …

Reuters reports: A coalition of international companies, including Google and Microsoft, on Wednesday denounced anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda’s parliament last week, warning it would damage the East Africa country’s economy. The Open for Business coalition said the legislation, which criminalises identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, would curb investment flows and deter tourists. The bill imposes the …

Courthouse News reports: The White House is warning that a proposed Ugandan bill that would outlaw identifying as LGBTQ+ could threaten U.S. aid to the African country. John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications for the National Security Council, said Wednesday that if the law passes, the Biden administration would consider potential “repercussions, perhaps in an economic way.” “That would be …

Reuters reports: Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law that criminalises identifying as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. More than 30 African countries, including Uganda, already ban same-sex relations. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), …

Human Rights Watch reports: A bill introduced in Uganda’s Parliament criminalizing same-sex conduct and sexual and gender identity, if adopted, would violate multiple fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Among others, such a law would violate the rights to freedom of expression and association privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination. On March 9, 2023, Asuman Basalirwa, a member of parliament, introduced …

Agence France-Presse reports: A former Ugandan ethics minister who championed a bill to introduce the death penalty for same-sex relationships and sought to regulate what women could wear died on Saturday, officials said. Simon Lokodo — a one-time Catholic priest ex-communicated by the church, whose homophobia attracted global condemnation — died aged 64 in a hospital in Geneva. A watered-down version …

ABC News reports: A gay rights leader in Uganda says 20 members of the local LGBT community have been detained after police raided their shelter and accused them of violating coronavirus-related social distancing measures. “It is evident that they were arrested because of their homosexuality,” Frank Mugisha [photo] said Wednesday, expressing concern for their safety as “some of them are …