Uganda's President Signs the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into Law
Opponents hope to block law in Constitutional Court
I have been following the return of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill (now law) over the past few weeks. Today, President Museveni signed the amended bill into law, thus triggering outrage from human rights groups and various government leaders worldwide.
I have also been examining the influence of Christian nationalism, both in Uganda and in the U.S. on the Ugandan effort to target LGBTQ people. In parts one and two, I outline a brief history of my involvement in opposing the Ugandan bill and the role of U.S. actors in supporting it. In part three yet to come, I will draw some threads together and demonstrate how Christian nationalism is dangerous to those who have been using it to achieve their goals outside the U.S. These groups (latter day saints, apostolic Christians, charismatics, etc.) are not being targeted now in the U.S., but their time is coming if the Reformed Christian nationalists have their way.
Back to the present, a group of activists, lawyers, and a journalist has appealed to Uganda’s Constitutional Court to block the law from taking effect. The first time the bill passed and was signed by Museveni, the Constitutional Court struck down the law because the Parliament acted on the bill without a quorum. The Parliament made sure there were no such procedural issues this time. If the court strikes it down, it will be on the grounds that the constitution of Uganda does not permit discriminatory treatment. Stay tuned.
People there have been brainwashed about gays and lesbians, etc. They believe that we are after their children, in an even more extreme version of the nonsense of late in the US. Much of this has been at the hands of evangelicals who went over there to whip up just this kind of reaction. This includes Scott Lively who taught, among other things, that gays were the real Nazis in Germany, responsible for those atrocities.
We are largely responsible for what is happening over there - our influence has power, for good or evil. And even if this version of the law doesn't call for death, people will die. Once you enshrine that kind of prejudice in law, you give people the incentive (and implied permission) to act on their hatred. All these people want to do is live their lives without fear.
Thank you for your work. This is a tragic mess. I know nothing about Uganda really but President Museveni must need some good excuses for things gone wrong in the economic area, so he is busy demonizing. Sounds familiar.