On Monday, Uganda’s president approved one of the world’s harshest laws against homosexuality.
Rainbow activists are shocked by Uganda’s draconian anti-homosexuality law.
– There is no hope, but where would we go? a Ugandan rainbow activist Delovie Kwagala asks in the Reuters video.
Kwagala, who goes by the name “Papa De”, lives in South Africa. In Uganda, the activity is too dangerous.
– You don’t want us in your country, you don’t give us jobs, education, medicine, you criminalize renting to us. Where do you want us to go? You are literally arresting us, just because we exist, says Kwagala.
President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni on Monday approved one of the harshest gay laws in the world with minor relaxations. According to the law, homosexual acts can even be sentenced to death.
In Africa, more than 30 countries have enacted laws restricting homosexuality. The fear is that Uganda’s extreme law will be used as a model elsewhere.
– This is not only bad news for Ugandan rainbow people, but for the entire rainbow community on the African continent. Ghana has been preparing for the same for months. Tanzania. Nigeria. And all the countries I don’t mention. They have only been waiting for this decision, says Kwagala.
The law also shocked South Africa, which has the most permissive laws regarding sexual and gender minorities in Africa.
– I am horrified, I am disgusted, I am disappointed. I feel a lot of feelings of anger, and I ask where exactly we are. It’s 2023. This feels so regressive. We have made so much progress in other countries and then this happens, Johannesburg resident Boitumelao Shaku tells Reuters.
– Every one of us on the African continent should be ashamed that people are sentenced to death, just based on their identity, just based on how they choose to live, South African filmmaker and rainbow activist Lerato states to Reuters.
The European Union and the United States have condemned the Ugandan law.
President Joe Biden also threatened Uganda with sanctions unless the law is repealed. The East African country receives billions of euros in grants every year.
Ugandan human rights activists and lawyers also drafted a petition to repeal the law. According to the petition, the gay law is against Uganda’s constitution because it violates articles of the constitution that guarantee equal treatment and prohibit discrimination. In addition, the relevant groups, i.e. sexual and gender minorities, were ignored in the preparation of the law.
So far, the Ugandan government has not been ready to back down. It has defended itself from foreign criticism by appealing to the country’s right to self-determination.