The Anti-homosexuality Bill that was assented into law by President Yoweri Museveni has in the past two months bite hardly, with some activists fleeing the country.
The law which criminalizes the same sex, giving culprits 20 years in jail and a death sentence to those convicted of aggravated homosexuality has received mixed reactions from the public.
Whereas there was evidently unprecedented relief and jubilation from the wider society, it spelled doom to the LGBTQ community and marked a dark day in their lives.
The proponents of the bill claim to have been pushed by the sincere interest to protect innocent people especially minors and other vulnerable groups of people from being cajoled or even coarsed into the vice. Their mission seem to have been achieved when the bill turned into law.
Despite the international criticism, warnings, and threats of sanctions, the East African Country seems to have taken a firm stand on its position and won’t drag her cold feet to succumb to international pressure.
Analysts and other opinion leaders have described the law as a harsh one especially when it suggests the death penalty for aggravated homosexual acts. The same decision hasn’t gone well down the throats of gay people. Since the passing of the law, there has been stampede, unrest, speculations, stigma, and threats of being arrested and charged among the gay.
Ms Jamilah Nabakiibi, an alleged lesbian and LGBTQ activist who allegedly fled the country told a close friend that she feels not safe.
“We are highly stigmatized and traumatized”, she told a friend.
Her major concern is the fact that government plans to use a “gay promotion clause” to incriminate even gays having consensual sex.
There is also public opinion that the law in itself is insufficient if it does not roll out the rehabilitation program for already LGBTQ people who may wish to denounce the vice.
Culture plays a pivotal role in the way society is run. African culture is firmly enshrined and embedded in, among other things, the way sexuality is perceived and practiced. It is therefore not surprising that LGBTQ continues to meet open hostility on the African continent.
A reliable source shares that more members of Uganda’s’ queer community have continued to flee the country with most of them heading to Europe, Canada, and the US
