Flag of Uganda – Photo: Nicolas Raymond, via Flickr
A coalition of international companies warned that sweeping anti-LGBTQ legislation to be signed into law by Uganda’s president could hurt the country’s economy and its ability to attract business.
The Open for Business coalition, which is committed to promoting LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace, said the legislation was dangerous. Members include Google, Mastercard, Unilever, Standard Chartered, PwC and Deloitte, all operating in Uganda.
The bill is alarmingly broad in its provisions. While same-sex relationships are already criminalized in Uganda, under the new law anyone who admits to being LGBTQ or speaking out for LGBTQ rights can be jailed for life.
Individuals or institutions that support or fund LGBTQ-related groups or organizations, or those who publish or disseminate information about homosexuality or portray LGBTQ people in a positive or neutral light – including the media – can be prosecuted and imprisoned for years.
Cisgender allies of the LGBTQ community can be prosecuted for publicly speaking out for LGBTQ rights.
Family members, friends and even acquaintances of suspected LGBTQ people can be penalized if they fail to report cases of suspected homosexual behavior to the police.
The bill will impose the death penalty on those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality,” a term that refers to people who engage in homosexual behavior with another person who cannot or will not consent, or who is pressured into engage in same-sex behavior.
After the measure was passed with overwhelming support from MPs, it will be presented to President Yoweri Museveni for signature into law.
Museveni has yet to comment on the bill, but signed a similar law known as the Kill the Gays Act, which initially provided for the death penalty for LGBTQ people before being amended in 2014. A Ugandan court later overturned the law on procedural grounds.
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Uganda also has a long history of anti-LGBTQ sentiment. This is in part due to its own unique history and colonial-era laws discouraging homosexuality, as well as the influence of Christian and Muslim religious revivalist movements, which have spread propaganda and exploited societal unease about homosexuality by portraying LGBTQ people as child molesters . lustful predators or a threat to the larger social order.
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The 2023 legislation has already drawn international condemnation, with many Western nations, including the United States, voicing concern about the bill. The White House previously described the law as one of the world’s most extreme anti-LGBTQ laws.
According to Reuters, the Open for Business coalition has argued the legislation would stifle investment in Uganda and drive tourism away.
A statement also said the new law would undermine companies’ ability to hire and retain diverse and talented employees.
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“Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people adversely affects workers and is contrary to the interests of businesses and economic growth in Uganda,” the coalition said in a statement. “The evidence shows that measures to exclude minorities such as the LGBTQ+ community have real costs – not just to people, but also to business performance and national economic competitiveness.”
As evidence of the potential economic cost, the coalition cites a 2019 study showing neighboring Kenya loses up to 1.7% of its gross domestic product annually as a result of its anti-LGBTQ policies.
Critics also note that the law would put LGBTQ-affirming companies in an impossible situation, effectively requiring them to “out” their own employees and report them to the police if they know those workers identify as LGBTQ .
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“Either they are breaking the law in Uganda, or they are breaking international standards of corporate responsibility as well as human rights laws of the countries where they are headquartered,” Yvonne Muthoni, country director of the Kenya-based coalition, told Reuters.
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