Passed in the final days of an outgoing parliament, through a private member’s bill introduced by an outgoing legislator, and without government support, this legislation needs assent. The government chose not to appeal.įortunately, this time we are unlikely to need to go to such lengths. But with an independent and capable judiciary, the Act was annulled. Back then, we had the entire political system – every single legislator, both from the government and the opposition, save I and one other – against us. In 2014, I played a small part in making sure that anti-LGBTQI forces in Uganda do not succeed in writing their hate into law: I was one of the petitioners in the case that successfully overturned the infamous anti-gay law. Last month, the parliament of my country once again voted to make homosexuality a criminal offence, this time with a 10-year prison sentence. Seven years after an act of parliament made homosexuality a crime punishable by death, the anti-gay campaigners of Uganda are at it again.
