In the latest example of modern Western imperialism, the World Bank has cut off funding to Uganda because the country has legislation to protect the traditional family and criminalize “aggravated homosexuality.” The World Bank, the Biden administration, and others are trying to force Uganda to abandon its own religious convictions and traditions in favor of Euro-American wokeness.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni tweeted on August 9, “Last night, an official from the World Bank rang me to alert me about the statement from that Bank regarding the suspension of any new requests from Uganda for loans. I want to inform everybody, starting with Ugandans, that Uganda will develop with or without loans.”
He continued, “It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans.” Museveni concluded, “We do not need pressure from anybody to know how to solve problems in our society. They are our problems. We are continuing to talk with the World Bank so that both they and we avoid this diversion if possible.”
First of all, to clarify misunderstandings about Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, the Ugandan president specifically insisted on distinguishing in the legislation between people who have homosexual proclivities and people who act on them. Thus, it is false to say that the law criminalizes being homosexual; it imposes penalties for homosexual acts (and there are varying degrees of punishments for varying levels of homosexual activity).
The very first line of the legislation explains that its purpose is “to protect the traditional family.” One of the ways the bill does that is by “prohibiting any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex,” as well as “protecting children and youth who are made vulnerable to sexual abuse through homosexuality and related acts.” Africa was hard-hit by the sexually transmitted diseases AIDS and HIV, which homosexuals are at much higher risk for than heterosexuals. Uganda is also majority Christian, with a more traditional form of Christianity than many Western countries have retained. It is interesting that Ugandan HIV rates declined significantly in the 1990s due to abstinence and community encouragement.
While the act in question does criminalize same-sex sexual acts, the whole bill has a significant focus on helping and protecting victims of sexual assault and abuse. “Aggravated homosexuality,” which is punishable by up to ten years of prison, is defined as an offender assaulting or overpowering the person in some way, or if the victim is a minor, or if the offender has HIV, or if the offender is a “serial offender” (i.e., committed these same-sex actions repeatedly). Same-sex “marriage” is also punishable by a ten-years prison. Less serious offenses (“attempts to commit the offense of homosexuality” and “Aiding and abetting homosexuality”) can be liable to a two-year prison sentence. Homosexuality procured “by threats” is liable to five years in prison. The evidence of one witness is not sufficient for conviction. Keeping a homosexual brothel is punishable by seven years in jail.
The only mention of “death” in the bill, as signed in May 2023 (based on the version I obtained online), is while committing a felony, which is an offense that can be punishable “with death.” The screeching and wailing about impending executions of homosexuals by bloodthirsty Ugandan politicians would seem grossly exaggerated.
If you would like to read the Anti-Homosexuality Act, I highly encourage it; it is almost impossible to find a single news site that gives an honest assessment, so it’s better to read the actual law and then form an opinion.
There can be debate over the Ugandan law, but when Museveni defines it in terms of his Christian values, he really does have biblical backing for his severe view of homosexuality. For instance, Leviticus 18:22 says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” The most famous Bible story about homosexuality is Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19; you can read one of my previous pieces for a more detailed analysis of that Bible passage and the punishment God sends for licentious homosexuality. Then there’s this New Testament passage from St. Paul:
For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error…Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them. —Romans 1:26-27, 32
Some will say that “death” here is meant only to be imposed by God, but the plain fact is that St. Paul says persistent homosexual acts deserve death. So, while there may be differing interpretations, the interpretation Ugandan politicians seem to be using is valid. Theologians can then debate which valid interpretation is best; throughout much of Christian history, however, the Ugandans’ interpretation would have been accepted. And, again, as noted above, death is not explicitly prescribed for any one offense in the bill; mostly, the penalties are imprisonment with rehabilitation, not execution.
Furthermore, Muslim countries like Iran have the death penalty for homosexuals, yet the world is singling out Uganda for outrage. Ultimately, globalists and leftists don’t care if Muslims punish homosexuality. They only care when Christians do it.