Uganda’s LGBT community is facing a wave of discrimination and violence following a recent government investigation into the alleged promotion of homosexuality in schools. Since the investigation was announced, activists report that there has been a rise in discrimination against LGBT individuals in the country. The backlash has worsened the community’s already precarious status in Uganda, where same-sex relations are punishable by up to life in prison.
According to activists, the language employed by officials to justify the investigation, as well as recent anti-gay comments by President Yoweri Museveni and the head of Uganda’s Anglican Church, have had far-reaching consequences. “People have gone back into hiding, people have gone back into the closet … people are getting arrested. There’s a lot of blackmail and extortion by law enforcers,” said Frank Mugisha, an LGBT rights activist whose charity was shuttered last year.
Cuthbert Abigaba, the lawmaker leading the investigation, said that children were being introduced to homosexuality in schools through recruitment and reading materials, but did not provide any evidence to support this claim. The committee plans to visit schools and conduct interviews once the parliament speaker provides terms of reference. Meanwhile, LGBT Ugandans fear that their predicament could get even worse, as MP Asuman Basalirwa prepares a new anti-LGBT law that would criminalize a range of activities, including “aiding, abetting, promoting, recruitment (of people) into” homosexuality. This would make it similar to an anti-gay law Uganda passed in 2013, which was later struck down by a court as unconstitutional in 2014.
Activists are calling on the Ugandan government to end the discrimination and violence against LGBT individuals, and to respect their human rights. However, Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi did not respond to a request for comment about the impact of the investigation. With the current situation, the future looks bleak for Uganda’s LGBT community.