The first wave of anti-gay legislation criminalizing same-sex relationships and gender identities in Africa arose in 2009 to 2015. However, it had seemed like the trend of anti-gay bills had come to a halt—until the Ugandan parliament decided to revisit the country’s already-existing legislation to add some new laws.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world toughest anti-LGBTQ bills on May 29. In its genocidal fantasies, the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 allows executions for certain types of consensual same-sex activities, marking the latest in the string of setbacks for LGBTQ+ rights in Africa where same-sex relations are already illegal in 32 countries. Tragically, a 20-year-old man just became the first person to be charged and prosecuted with “Aggravated Homosexuality,” which is punishable by death under the new law that was signed three months ago. According to Reuters, three other people have also been charged since the law’s enactment.
LGBTQ+ communities across Africa have made so much progress—Angola overturned a ban on same-sex relationships in February 2021—that it is disheartening to see multiple African countries doubling back on those advances. But we have seen a similar domino effect before. In 2014, Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act triggered Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, demonstrating how one country's policy can embolden another country into discrimination.
