The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 was an act passed by the Parliament of Uganda on 20 December 2013, which prohibited sexual relations between persons of the same sex. The act was previously called the "Kill the Gays bill" in the western mainstream media due to death penalty clauses proposed in the original version,Malone, Barry (13 May 2011). Uganda's "kill the gays" bill shelved again Reuters. Retrieved 2 September 2011Thockmorton, Warren (23 July 2011). Pastor decries "misrepresentation" of "kill the gays" bill, Salon.com. Retrieved 2 September 2011.Pearson, Christopher (16 January 2011.) Don't blame preachers for anti-gay bill, The Australian. Retrieved 2 September 2011. but the penalty was later amended to life imprisonment. The bill was signed into law by the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni on 24 February 2014. On 1 August 2014, however, the Constitutional Court of Uganda ruled the act invalid on procedural grounds.
The act would have broadened the criminalisation of same-sex relations in Uganda domestically. It also includes provisions about persons outside of Uganda who are charged with violating the act, asserting that they may be extradited to Uganda for punishment there. The act also includes penalties for individuals, companies, and non-governmental organisations that aid or abet same-sex sexual acts, including conducting a gay marriage. Furthermore, the act enables the Ugandan government to rescind international and regional commitments it deems outside of the interest of the act's provisions.
Same-sex relationships have been illegal in Uganda since colonial rule as they are in many African countries, especially former British colonies and before this Act was passed, they were punishable by incarceration in prison for up to 14 years. The act was introduced as the Anti Homosexuality Bill, 2009 by Member of Parliament (MP) David Bahati (National Resistance Movement) on 14 October 2009. A special motion to introduce the bill was passed a month after a two-day conference was held in which three Christians from the United States asserted that homosexuality is a direct threat to the cohesion of African families. The international community, however, assailed the law, accusing the Ugandan government of encouraging violence against LGBT people with the law. The United States imposed economic sanctions against Uganda in June 2014 in response to the law, the World Bank indefinitely postponed a $90 million aid loan to Uganda and the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway halted aid to Uganda in opposition to the law; the Ugandan government defended the bill and rejected condemnation of it, with the country's authorities stating President Museveni wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation". Several sources have noted that the act has exacerbated both the endemic homophobia in Uganda and the associated discussions about it. Others more specifically claim that such legislative actions are the result of politicized homophobia, a rhetorical tool used to further the interests of political leaders in the form of gaining popularity and/or distracting from corrupt behaviour.
Parliament passed similar bills in 2021 and 2023: the Sexual Offenses Bill, 2019, passed in May 2021 and vetoed by President Yoweri Museveni and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023.
Background
Some gay rights advocates have claimed that around 500,000 people in Uganda or 1.4 percent of its population are gay. The Ugandan government, however, has characterized the 500,000 people claim as an exaggeration designed to increase the popularity of homosexuality, and the BBC in 2009 asserted the impossibility of determining the actual number of gay people living in Uganda.
Existing laws in Uganda criminalise homosexual behavior with prison sentences, some of which can be as long as 14 years. These laws were introduced during the colonial era in order to eliminate what the colonial authorities deemed "unnatural sex".Uganda: 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch (15 October 2009). Retrieved 7 January 2010. In some areas, male homosexuality was age-stratified, similar to ancient Greece where warriors purchased boys as brides, common when women were not available, or manifested as fleeting encounters as in prostitution.Murray, Stephen O. (2005). Homosexuality in "Traditional" Sub-Saharan Africa and Contemporary South Africa, hosted at Le Seminaire Gai (hosting site in French). Retrieved 9 January 2010. Human rights groups have demanded reform of those laws and decriminalisation of homosexuality and asserted that the laws reinforce prejudice and promote violence against LGBT people., Pambazuka News (26 February 2014).
According to a reporter in Africa, "Africans see homosexuality as being both un-African and un-Christian". Thirty-eight of 53 African nations criminalise homosexuality in some way.The love that still dare not speak its name, The Independent, (11 January 2010). Retrieved 11 January 2010. A 2013 poll found that the overwhelming majority of Ugandans disapproved of homosexuality. In sub-Saharan Africa, only the governments of South Africa and Namibia support gay rights. But South Africa's support of LGBT rights did not prevent the rape and murder of LGBT rights activist Eudy Simelane in 2008. Human rights groups have criticized the police for being inactive and apathetic. Like the conditions in many other African nations, gays in Uganda face an atmosphere of physical abuse, vandalism of their property, blackmail, death threats, and "corrective rape".Rice, Xan (29 November 2009). Uganda considers death sentence for gay sex in bill before parliament, The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
From 5 to 8 March 2009, a workshop organised by the Family Life Network, led by Ugandan Stephen Langa, and entitled "Seminar on Exposing the Homosexuals' Agenda" took place in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The workshop featured three US evangelical Christians: Scott Lively, an author who has written several books opposing homosexuality; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-professed former gay man who conducts sessions to heal homosexuality; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, an organisation devoted to promoting "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ" and which was funded by restaurant chain Chick-Fil-A.About us, Exodus International (2005). Retrieved 7 January 2009. The theme of the conference, according to The New York Times, was the "gay agenda": "how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how 'the gay movement is an evil institution' whose goal is 'to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity' ". Kapya Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia, was in attendance and reported on the conference. Lively asserted in his workshops that legalizing homosexuality would be akin to accepting child molestation and bestiality. He also claimed that gays threaten society by causing higher divorce rates, child abuse, and HIV transmission. He said that US homosexuals are out to recruit young people into homosexual lifestyles. According to Kaoma, one of the thousands of Ugandans in attendance announced during the conference, "[The parliament] feels it is necessary to draft a new law that deals comprehensively with the issue of homosexuality and ... takes into account the international gay agenda.... Right now there is a proposal that a new law be drafted."
Also during March 2009, Lively met with several Ugandan MPs and Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo. Lively then wrote in his blog that Langa was "overjoyed with the results of our efforts and predicted confidently that the coming weeks would see significant improvement in the moral climate of the nation, and a massive increase in pro-family activism in every social sphere. He said that a respected observer of society in Kampala had told him that our campaign was like a nuclear bomb against the 'gay' agenda in Uganda. I pray that this, and the predictions, are true."Lively, Scott (17 March 2009). , The Pro-Family Resource Center of Abiding Life Ministries. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
In April 2009, a local Ugandan newspaper printed the names of suspected homosexuals, another printed tips on how to identify gays for the general public, and, in October 2010, another named Rolling Stone (unaffiliated with the American Rolling Stone) published a story featuring a list of the nation's 100 "top" gays and lesbians with their photos and addresses. Next to the list was a yellow strip with the words "hang them". Julian Pepe, a program coordinator for Sexual Minorities Uganda, said that people named in the story were living in fear and that attacks have begun, prompting many to abandon their jobs and others to relocate. The paper's editor justified the list to expose gays and lesbians so authorities could arrest them, while Buturo dismissed complaints from gay people and sympathisers by stating that protests about the outing is part of a campaign to mobilise support and sympathy from outside the country.Uganda newspaper publishes 'gay list,' calls for their hanging, CNN. Retrieved 27 October 2010.'Hang them': Uganda paper publishes photos of gays The Washington Post (19 October 2010). Retrieved 27 October 2010. The high court of Uganda ordered Rolling Stone to stop publishing images of gay and lesbian people after David Kato and several others sued the paper.
Langa specifically cited the unlicensed conversion therapist Richard A. Cohen, who stated in Coming Out Straight, a book that was given to Langa and other prominent Ugandans, that homosexuals were more likely to molest children. These statements were based on faulty studies performed by Paul Cameron, who has been expelled from the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the American Sociological Association. Cohen later said these statements would be removed from future editions of the book.Rachel Maddow Shuts Down Gay-Cure Advocate, New York (magazine) (9 December 2009). Retrieved 8 January 2010.Richard Cohen: Gay-To-Straight 'Therapist' Spars With Rachel Maddow (VIDEO), The Huffington Post (9 December 2009). Retrieved 8 January 2010.Interview with Richard Cohen The Rachel Maddow Show (9 December 2009). Retrieved 8 January 2010.
Overview
Bill as introduced In April 2009, the Ugandan Parliament passed a resolution allowing MP David Bahati to submit a private member's bill in October to strengthen laws against homosexuality.McVeigh, Tracy; Harris, Paul; Among, Barbara (13 December 2009). Anti-gay bigots plunge Africa into new era of hate crimes The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2010. Bahati proposed the bill on 14 October 2009.
The bill provided specific definitions of "the offence of homosexuality", for which an offender could receive life imprisonment, and "aggravated homosexuality", for which an offender could receive the death penalty. "The offence of homosexuality" was defined to include various same-sex sexual acts. "Aggravated homosexuality" was defined to include a same-sex sexual act: with a person under the age of 18; committed by a person who is HIV-positive; by a parent or guardian of the person with whom the act is committed; by a person in authority over the person with whom the act is committed; the victim of which is a person with a disability; by a serial offender; or by a person who administers any drug, matter, or thing with the intent to stupefy or overpower another person to enable a same-sex act to be committed. A person charged with "aggravated homosexuality" would be forced to undergo an HIV test. A person who attempted to commit "the offence of homosexuality" could receive imprisonment for seven years. A person who attempted to commit "aggravated homosexuality" could receive life imprisonment.