New Uganda Bill Terrifies LGBTQ Community: Born from Hatred

Frank Mugisha, the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), receives hundreds of requests for help daily from members of the LGBTQ community in Uganda. The situation has become increasingly desperate since Uganda’s parliament passed one of the world’s strictest anti-homosexuality legislation on March 21. The new bill imposes life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of same-sex relations and the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality”. Activists and journalists are also being targeted, with individuals found guilty of “promoting” homosexuality facing 20 years in prison. Friends, family, and neighbours are required by law to report anyone they suspect is gay to the police, or suffer a six-month jail term, while landlords are forbidden from renting to LGBTQ people. Already, anxiety is rising within the Ugandan LGBTQ community. Members are already making plans to flee the country, others have stopped visiting health facilities for fear of arrest, and some have been evicted from their homes. Homophobic attacks and rhetoric have also risen. International pressure is ramping up on President Yoweri Museveni to reject the bill, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemning it. The Open for Business Coalition, a consortium of multinational corporations dedicated to LGBTQ inclusion, has also penned an open letter to Museveni, appealing to him not to assent.