Uganda accused of 'state bigotry' and attacks on LGBTQ+ people

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Uganda accused of ‘state bigotry’ and attacks on LGBTQ+ people

Report from Human Rights Watch criticises Museveni regime for arbitrary arrests and detentions, violence and extortion since draconian new law enacted

Samuel Okiror in Kampala
Tue 27 May 2025 10.00 BST
Last modified on Tue 27 May 2025 10.01 BST

The Ugandan authorities have “unleashed abuse”, perpetrating widespread discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people in the two years since the world’s harshest anti-gay laws were enacted, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The government’s policies in Uganda had encouraged attacks and harassment against people and organisations seen as being supportive of gay rights, said researchers from the rights group.

Public figures in the east African nation have engaged in virulent homophobic rhetoric and human rights’ violations before and since the controversial law was enacted in May 2023.

“Authorities have raided and suspended nongovernmental organisations, conducted arbitrary arrests and detentions, engaged in entrapment via social media and dating apps, and extorted money from LGBT people in exchange for releasing them from police custody,” said the authors of They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk: How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse, which was released on Monday.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/may/27/uganda-museveni-criticised-state-bigotry-abuse-arbitrary-arrests-and-detentions-violence-extortion-lgbtq-human-rights-hrw

[DBoon]

1. The Unholy Relationship Between Uganda's Anti-LGBTQ+ Law and US Evangelicalism

https://globalaffairs.org/commentary-and-analysis/blogs/unholy-relationship-between-ugandas-anti-lgbtq-law-and-us

When the US government began legalizing gay marriage at the state level in the early 2000s, many extreme evangelical groups started to recognize that the fight against LGBTQ+ rights in the United States was a losing battle. These groups then shifted focus to Uganda, which was seen as fertile ground for this anti-gay ideology due to a majority conservative Christian base and young population. Uganda had also been significantly impacted by HIV/AIDS in the 1990s and was still recovering from a devastating civil war in the 1980s.

American evangelical groups have since spent years and tens of millions of dollars spreading homophobia in Uganda and beyond. Data from OpenDemocracy shows that from 2007 to 2020, over 20 US evangelical groups spent at least $54 million in Africa “to influence laws, policies, and public opinion against sexual and reproductive rights." Nearly half of that figure was spent in Uganda.

This movement quickly gained traction in 2009 after top American evangelical leaders headlined a three-day conference in Kampala on “exposing the homosexuals’ agenda.” Speakers promoted the notion that the “traditional” Ugandan family is exclusively heterosexual, claiming that gay Westerners and activists are attempting to spread homosexuality by corrupting and recruiting children around the world. Attendees and top politicians, including President Museveni and his wife, received this message well.

[ShazzieB]

2. Ugh, how depressing!