Tag Archives: Yoweri Museveni

Reuters reports: Uganda’s constitutional court on Wednesday refused to annul or suspend an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, but found some of its provisions inconsistent with certain fundamental human rights. In particular the court said the section of the legislation requiring the mandatory reporting to authorities of people suspected of having committed homosexual offences …

Reuters reports: A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality”, an offence punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law, prosecutors and his lawyer said. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated”, which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly …

Bloomberg News reports: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law legislation with harsher penalties for LGBTQ people, including death and life-imprisonment sentences. The president “has assented” to the bill, which now becomes law, his office announced in a post on its Twitter account. Parliament had approved an earlier version of the bill in March, but Museveni returned it to lawmakers …

Reuters reports: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he would sign some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation once provisions are added to “rehabilitate” gay people, vowing not to cede to international pressure. The United States, European Union and major corporations have condemned the bill. Museveni predicted Uganda would face sanctions once the legislation goes into effect, as it did in …

The Associated Press reports: Kanye West handed Uganda’s president a pair of his autographed sneakers on Monday during a visit to the East African nation in which the rapper is said to be recording music in a tent. The 74-year-old President Yoweri Museveni said he and West held “fruitful discussions” about promoting tourism and arts. He also gave West and …

The Washington Post reports: As lawmakers debated one of the country’s most important bills, Uganda’s parliament turned into an ultimate fighting ring. Parliamentarians hurled chairs at each other and swung microphone stands like swords. Men were torn from the room by their blazers and women by their dresses. Some people wailed and cried. That fight exposed the bitter rift between …

Via Reuters: Drafters of a revised anti-gay law want parliament to pass it in time to be a “Christmas gift” for Ugandans, a lawmaker said on Friday, after a controversial earlier version was quashed because of legal technicalities. Legislation passed by parliament almost a year ago, which would have punished gay sex with long prison terms, provoked a storm of …

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday said that his nation risks a trade boycott by western corporations if the anti-gays laws struck down earlier this year on a technicality were to be reinstated. In a commentary on Friday in the state-run New Vision daily, Museveni said he was not worried by the aid cuts that followed the initial law, but warned …

Via the Associated Press: President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is urging parliamentarians not to rush to reintroduce a controversial anti-gay law that was invalidated earlier this month, saying the measure is not a priority and could hurt the country’s economic development. Museveni, who held a meeting Monday with lawmakers from his party, urged parliamentarians “not to cause chaos” by quickly …

As many had expected they would, Ugandan legislators have launched a campaign to reinstate the brutal Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was struck down last week on a technicality. It was not immediately clear whether President Museveni would support the bill a second time, if passed by parliament again. “We’re mobilizing members to pledge their support for reintroduction of this bill when …

On Saturday Ugandan Pastor Martin “Eat Da Poo Poo” Ssempa smirkingly invited me to attend a parade in celebration of his country’s brutal crackdown on its LGBT citizens. The festivities went off as planned yesterday, complete with a marching band and children that waved anti-gay signs.  J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed: Fire jugglers, acrobats, and schoolchildren performed at a …

Buzzfeed has the story: Human rights advocates and opposition politicians filed a lawsuit against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act on Tuesday. The Anti-Homosexuality Act, which President Yoweri Museveni signed into law on February 24, imposes up to a life sentence for homosexuality and criminalizes advocating LGBT rights. The petitioners include activists Frank Mugisha of Sexual Minorities Uganda, trans activist Julian Pepe Onziema, …

Via press release from the State Department: Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Ugandan President Museveni yesterday via phone. Secretary Kerry expressed the United States’ deep disappointment in the Ugandan Government’s decision to enact the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The Secretary noted that the decision complicates the U.S. relationship with Uganda. He also raised U.S. concerns that this discriminatory law poses …

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has proposed freezing US aid to Uganda over the enactment of that country’s brutal anti-homosexuality bill, which was signed last week by President Yoweri Museveni. “I am deeply concerned by the decision of President (Yoweri) Museveni of Uganda to sign into law the anti-homosexuality bill,” Senator Patrick Leahy, the most senior member of the chamber and …

A Ugandan tabloid has published the names of 200 allegedly gay citizens, putting all of these people at the risk of being murdered. Which has happened before. Via the Associated Press: The Red Pepper tabloid published the names — and some pictures — of alleged homosexuals in a front-page story under the headline: “EXPOSED!” The list included prominent Ugandan gay …

Via press release: Statement by the Press Secretary on Uganda: Instead of standing on the side of freedom, justice, and equal rights for its people, today, regrettably, Ugandan President Museveni took Uganda a step backward by signing into law legislation criminalizing homosexuality. As President Obama has said, this law is more than an affront and a danger to the gay …

From the Center For Constitutional Rights: In addition to putting the lives of LGBTI Ugandans at serious risk, in signing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, President Museveni has criminalized the existence and work of our client, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), and other advocacy organizations in violation of the Ugandan constitution and international law. The Center for Constitutional Rights holds right-wing U.S. evangelical …

Just yesterday the Guardian reported that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was putting off signing the anti-gay bill while he challenges US scientists to disprove that homosexuality is a choice. But today Museveni has signed the bill. According to the Associated Press news agency, government officials clapped after Mr Museveni signed the bill at a press conference at State House. The …

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has put off signing the anti-gay bill while he challenges American scientists to disprove that homosexuality is a choice. A week ago Museveni had insisted that he would approve the legislation, prompting criticism from US president Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton. The US warned that the move would “complicate” relations with Uganda, to which …

Yesterday Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni responded to President Obama’s denouncement of the anti-homosexuality bill, saying, “You can’t tell me how to run my house.” (That quote is inexact and has been reported in different versions. The audio below is unclear.) Museveni has not yet signed the bill, but some reports say he might do so today. He has also issued …