The western conservatives who set up the anti-gay bill
Image by Gado
American citizens are key partners in the ultraconservative politics responsible for Uganda’s new anti-gay law, which sets the death penalty for homosexuals. The US has condemned Uganda but remains silent on its own citizens.
On Tuesday, Uganda’s Parliament passed a largely unchanged version of the country’s harsh anti-gay bill. It allows for life imprisonment and the death sentence, in some cases. The law is an evolution of legislation originally introduced by colonial authorities. A previous incarnation, dubbed the “Kill the Gays” bill, was struck down by Uganda’s Constitutional Court in 2014
Rights campaigners in the country say the current incarnation is the culmination of more than a decade of collaboration between Ugandan elite interest groups and American ultraconservatives. They say any international condemnation of the law should also target the Americans involved. “What I would expect [the West] to do right now is hold themselves accountable,” said Twasiima Bigirwa, a feminist writer. “This is not only a Ugandan problem. The kind of hate that we’re seeing in this moment is really inorganic. It’s been brought and stirred up by outsiders, and those outsiders need to be held accountable,” she added.
Nonprofits registered in the United States and two American citizens have been linked to the political organising that set the stage for the bill, according to an investigation by UK-based openDemocracy.
Sharon Slater, the head of a US-registered nonprofit known as Family Watch International, is one of the two. She is an active organiser in a collective of over 150 ultraconservative campaigners in Uganda, who convene and strategise in a private WhatsApp group.
A 2020 investigation by openDemocracy found that Family Watch International had, for a decade, been coaching high-ranking African politicians, and religious and civic leaders to oppose comprehensive sexuality education across the continent
Another US citizen, Tim Kruetter, who represents the US-registered Fellowship Foundation in Uganda, is an active player in an influential group called the “National Prayer Breakfast”, which has been described in the US and abroad as an incubator for ultraconservative agendas.
The King & LGBTIQ+: Activists protest outside a meeting between King Charles and Commonwealth leaders in London in March. Photo: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures/ Getty Image
The ideology came with money, with Odoi pointing to fellowships in expensive hotels, attended by elected officials, and trips for them to places like Jerusalem.
Frank Mugisha, a Ugandan rights campaigner and head of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a local LGBTIQ+ group, said: “The US government has done nothing to stop its citizens from exporting hate.”
Asked about this, the US government sent a statement, which ignored the involvement of American individuals and nonprofits. Instead, it said the bill would “deter” foreign investors, companies and tourists.
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