U.S. Democrats’ resolution rachets up pressure on Ugandan homophobes
‘The regime knows that it cannot survive without the support of the U.S government’
A proposed Congressional resolution condemning Uganda’s repressive Anti-Homosexuality Act is awaiting action by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
““It is difficult to overstate the gross inhumanity of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act,” said Congressman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who sponsored the resolution. “Instead of focusing on rooting out corruption or ending extrajudicial killings, the Ugandan Parliament, President, and Constitutional Court have chosen to mark LGBTQ+ Ugandans as less than human. Congress must not be silent in the face of such systematic, state-sponsored discrimination. To all those LGBTQ+ people and your allies in Uganda—we see you. We and the Biden Administration will not allow this terrible violation of basic dignity to go unchallenged.”
The resolution, introduced on June 26 with 21 co-sponsors, supports continued U.S. sanctions against current and former Ugandan officials involved in human rights abuses, including passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA). All of the co-sponsors are Democrats.
The measure was received warmly among Ugandan LGBTQ rights activists, though there was also support for further sanctions.
Ugandan queer activist Daniel Suuna declared, “Someone should hold this government (of Uganda) accountable for enacting the AHA. I am glad that the U.S government is doing so. ”
U.S. sanctions against Uganda in response to the passage of the AHA include :
- Refusing visas for Ugandans “complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Uganda or for policies or actions aimed at repressing members of marginalized or vulnerable populations.”
- Ending Uganda’s eligibility for the economic incentives of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
- Reducing support to the Government of Uganda, specifically $15 million for the Ugandan Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Tourism and $5 million in anti-AIDS funding redirected from the government to private organizations.
- Issuing warnings to business and travelers about the dangers of Uganda.
- Supporting cutbacks on World Bank lending in Uganda.
The AHA, enacted last year, passed review by Uganda’s Constitutional Court in April 2024.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called that court decision “deeply disappointing”.
“The Court has left LGBTQI+ persons vulnerable to hate-fueled violence, discrimination, persecution, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty – simply for existing as they are,” he said.
AHA punishments include:
- Life imprisonment for consensual same-sex intimacy.
- The death penalty for individuals who commit so-called “aggravated homosexuality,” including having sex with a child, a person with disability, or a relative.
- Twenty years of imprisonment for the “promotion of homosexuality,” which includes operating an organization that “promotes or encourages homosexuality or the observance and normalization of [homosexual] conduct.”
In May, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Anita Among, barring her from traveling to the United States. As the Ugandan speaker of parliament, she was instrumental in the passage of the AHA. However, the official reason for her sanctions was that she corruptly misused public resources and diverted materials from Uganda’s neediest communities.
Other sanctions have included:
- The World Bank halted all new loans to Uganda until the Ugandan authorities repeal AHA.
- The U.S. redirected $5 million from the government to local charities to provide services to LGBTQ+ people living with HIV/AIDS.
- In October 2023, President Joe Biden notified Congress that Uganda would lose its benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) starting in January 2024 due to the AHA and other human rights violations .
The sanctions have had an effect, Suuna said.
“When Biden cracked the whip on Among and group on corruption, the panicky regime started rounding up Members of Parliament to show that it is taking action,” Suuna said.
He added, “The regime will drop this bad bad law if our foreign friends take further action against the people who engineered it.
We all know that the regime knows that it can not survive without the support of the U.S government; so Washington, keep the fire burning.”
The co-sponsors of the resolution include Members of Congress Becca Balint, Lloyd Doggett, Adriano Espaillat, Robert Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Josh Gottheimer, Raúl Grijalva, Pramila Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Gwen Moore, Seth Moulton, Jerry Nadler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mark Pocan, Delia Ramirez, Linda Sánchez, Jan Schakowsky, Brad Sherman, Rashida Tlaib, Ritchie Torres and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who sponsored the resolution along with Takano, said, “When Ugandan President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law— one of the harshest anti-LGBTQI+ laws the world has seen— he, alongside the Parliament, signaled to members of the LGBTQI+ community that there is no place in the country that they will be safe from persecution”.
She noted, “This draconian law stands in clear violation of universal human rights and has already resulted in catastrophic personal outcomes for LGBTQI+ Ugandans, further discouraging them from seeking vital health services and facilitating a culture that supports state-sponsored violence. This resolution shows that members of the United States Congress stand with LGBTQI+ Ugandans and demands immediate repeal of this unjust law so that all Ugandans can lead safe, healthy lives free from fear.”
