Uganda

Same-sex relations have been criminalized in Uganda since British colonial times. Sections 145 on “unnatural offenses” and 148 on “indecent practices” have been retained in the penal code since independence, with “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” between men carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison. In May 2023, President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the extreme Anti Homosexuality Act 2023, which includes the death sentence for some consensual same-sex acts and prohibits organizations from “normalizing” sexual diversity through inclusive programming. A previous version of the law had been enacted in early 2014 and invalidated by the Constitutional Court on procedural grounds in the same year. 

In December 2023, the Constitutional Court of Uganda heard petitions challenging the law, in which petitioners argued that it infringed upon the right to privacy, press freedom, and freedom of expression. The petitioners also contended that the law was rushed through Parliament without adequate public consultation. On April 3, 2024, the Constitutional Court largely upheld the law, declaring only four provisions unconstitutional, including Sections 3(2)(c) applying capital punishment for the transmission of a “terminal illness” as a result of a “homosexual act,” Section 9 criminalizing the owner of premises being used “for the purposes of homosexuality,” Section 11(2)(d) prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality,” specifically for persons who lease or sublease, and Section 14 on the duty to report suspected offenders. Rights organizations have launched an appeal at the Supreme Court. Initially scheduled to be heard on March 31, 2026, the Supreme Court in late March postponed the appeal’s hearing to an undetermined date.

Since the passage of the law, Ugandan human rights groups have documented a rise in arbitrary arrests, evictions, extortion, and violence. In August 2023, the World Bank suspended new loans to Uganda because the law’s discriminatory nature contravenes the multilateral bank’s Environmental and Social Framework. The World Bank ended this ban in June 2024 after the government enacted “mitigation measures” to reduce the risk of discrimination in accessing Bank-funded services.

Government officials have repeatedly shut down Pride events and other queer-related events and conferences, and raided queer-friendly social spaces. Films, television shows, and radio programs have been banned for “homosexual content,” and some media organizations have chosen to remove such content for fear of reprisal. In August 2022, the Ugandan government suspended the operations of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a local NGO advocating for the rights of sexual and gender minorities. Despite threats, violent attacks, and arbitrary arrests, Uganda’s LGBTIQ activist community continues to advocate fervently for human rights.

Human rights defenders from Uganda have confirmed that the state is in the process of developing a bill to enact legal protections for intersex people as outlined in Resolution 552 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Intersex Persons in Africa.

In May 2025, Uganda hosted the third African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on “Family, Sovereignty and Values,” part of an anti-gender initiative aimed at developing an African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values. Activists raised concern that the conference would be used to mobilize for attacks on women’s rights and the rights of LGBTIQ people.