In Uganda, homosexuality will become a crime

The hope of living freely is gone. In Uganda, MPs adopted a new law on Tuesday, March 21, which considerably increases the repression against LGBT + people. Ten years of prison are from now on envisaged if one affirms his homosexuality. The so-called promotion of homosexuality is also condemned, as is the rental of real estate to homosexual persons. Any sexual relationship with a person of the same sex will also be punished by life imprisonment.

DeLovie Kwagala, a Ugandan photographer and activist, says to herself “bruised” by the adoption of this law. She was supposed to return to her country this month but she risks being arrested at the airport. “These people would not hesitate to send a message through me, to aim at me with their weapons”assures the artist.

“For them I am just a queer body, I am nothing, I am inhuman. They want to suppress us, kill us.”

DeLovie Kwagala, Ugandan photographer and activist

at franceinfo

“They encouraged religious leaders to share this message of hatred where it is a question of protecting the morality of the countryshe protests. They talk about morality for their children, but we are their children, and we have children too.”

Amnesty International calls on the Ugandan president to reject the law

The law passed by parliamentarians still needs to be validated by President Yoweri Museveni. But this should only be a formality as the Ugandan head of state is known for his homophobia. II
until recently described homosexuals as “deviant people”. Yoweri Museveni had already tried to enact an anti-LGBT + law, before it was canceled for a procedural flaw in 2014.

This law is such an attack on fundamental freedoms that it will be difficult to apply, says the NGO Human Rights Watch, but the damage is done. The publicity made around this law risks provoking violence against LGBT+ people. It remains to be seen whether the international community will put pressure on the Ugandan president, as it has done in the past. Amnesty International calls on Yoweri Museveni to reject this bill.