However, even though the law itself fell, the spirit lived on, as the bill had enjoyed wide-spread support in Uganda, where 93 percent of Ugandans were opposed to homosexuality.įor Christian fundamentalists, Uganda-an impoverished country recovering from years of corruption and violence-provided a blank canvas to project their missionary zeal and strong homophobia. Six months later, and after widespread international pressure, the Ugandan Constitutional Court ruled the Anti-Homosexuality Act invalid on procedural grounds. Although the death penalty was dropped from the 2009 version, the bill was still signed into law in 2014 as the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Supporters of the bill equated homosexuality with pedophilia, insinuating that gay adults groomed vulnerable children into homosexuality. Under the guise of “protecting the traditional family,” the bill advocated for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and the imprisonment of anyone “promoting” or failing to report homosexuality. It first gained international notoriety in 2009 when David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan parliament whose views were heavily influenced by American evangelicals, introduced the now infamous “ Kill the Gays” bill. Uganda was not always the extremely homophobic country it has transformed into.
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