Protesters gather at Uganda’s foreign offices to oppose Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Demonstrators’ plea: “Legalize LGBT Rights, Not Hate”

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Protest in London against Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023. (Photo courtesy of Twitter) — Protesters in London oppose Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023. (Photo courtesy of Twitter)

Opponents of Uganda’s repressive Anti-Homosexuality Bill gathered today in London, New York, New Delhi and Washington, D.C., to urge Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject it.

Museveni has not directly endorsed the bill, but has suggested he will sign it after Parliament makes some revisions.

Photos above and below are scenes from today’s Emergency Global Day of Action protests outside the Uganda High Commission offices in London and New Delhi, Uganda House in New York and the Ugandan Embassy in Washington. The hashtag for the protests is #SayNoToAHB23.

New York protesters gathered outside Uganda House. (Photo courtesy of Twitter)

Protesters in New Delhi urge Uganda's president to veto the new Anti-Homosexuality Bill. (Photo courtesy of Twitter) — Protesters in New Delhi urge Uganda’s president to veto the new Anti-Homosexuality Bill. (Photo courtesy of Twitter)

Since the bill’s passage last month, Uganda has seen “an exponential increase in cases of violence and violations against LGBTI persons fueled by the politicisation around the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023,” according to the LGBTQ legal aid group HRAPF.

LGBT Ugandans won’t be allowed to join together to fight for their rights

During that period, HRAPF reported, it “received and handled 59 cases involving LGBTQ or suspected LGBTQ persons. Of these, 40 cases (67.8%) involved violence and violations targeting the victims purely on the basis of their presumed sexuality, and affected a total of 85 persons. 11 cases were cases of arrests of people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, 14 were crimes against persons on basis of their sexuality, and 15 were cases of evictions from rented property.”

Protesters outside the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, D.C., call on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to veto the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. (Photo courtesy of Health Policy Watch)

If the bill is enacted, according to the Ugandan Parliament’s official account of the bill:

An individual convicted of committing the offense of homosexuality (presumably meaning same-sex sexual activity) would be sentenced to life in prison.
A person convicted of attempting to commit that act would be sentenced to seven years in prison.
A legal entity convicted of promotion of homosexuality would be fined 1 billion Ugandan shillings (about U.S. $266,000)
A child convicted of homosexual activity would be imprisoned for three years.
A person convicted of “aggravated homosexuality” would face the death penalty. That would apply to repeat offenses and cases of homosexual rape and homosexual activity involving a child, a person with disabilities or incest.