Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni
The Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, on Thursday, February 16, 2023, accused Europe of wanting to "impose" homosexuality in the African country, where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) are persecuted and suffer many stigmas.
According to the Ugandan official, who was speaking during a rally to mark the 46th anniversary of the death of that country's archbishop Janani Luwum, killed by the government of Idi Amin (1971-1979).
"I want to congratulate Ugandan believers for rejecting homosexuality. Europeans don't listen to us when we tell them that this problem of homosexuality is something we should not normalize or celebrate," he added.
According to Museveni, "It is true that there were some homosexuals (in Uganda) before the Europeans arrived, but it was a deviation from the norm, like a person with six fingers instead of five."
The Ugandan President made these comments a day after the Uganda Inter-Religious Council (IRCU) said it intended to bring back to the country's parliament a bill introduced years ago to punish "repeat homosexuals" with life imprisonment.
In February 2014, Museveni ratified that bill, but Uganda's Constitutional Court struck down the law six months later, arguing that there was not a sufficient quorum during its vote in parliament.
Discussions about this law - mainly driven by popular evangelist pastors - triggered a wave of attacks on LGBTIQ people in Uganda, leading to the murder of some of them.
Today, Uganda's penal code still has a law that dates back to 1950 - 12 years before the country gained independence from the UK - which penalizes same-sex sexual relations with up to seven years in prison. AM/JM
