DALLAS — At least two Texas hotels have turned away Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, over planned protests due to his country’s anti-gay laws.
The Dallas Voice reports that the Four Seasons Hotel in Irving canceled Museveni’s reservation, and that Marriott’s Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine refused to host Museveni as well.
Museveni is visiting Dallas this weekend to promote tourism and look for investors in his country’s oil and gas industry, according to the Dallas Voice, which notes that ExxonMobil’s world headquarters are nearby.
The Voice reported that “several members of the Ugandan community asked members of the LGBT community to join them protesting Museveni and the genocide he has repeatedly threatened to unleash on the gay community.”
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Late Thursday, Diana Pfaff of the Irving Convention Center told the Dallas Voice that the Ugandan Embassy had until the close of business to get all paperwork back to them, but because embassy officials did not meet that deadline, the event featuring Museveni will not take place Sunday in Irving as originally planned.
Article continues below
The measure, signed by Museveni in February, was struck down last month by panel of five judges on the East African country’s Constitutional Court because it was passed during a parliamentary session that lacked a quorum.
Despite the court’s ruling, a colonial-era law that criminalizes sex acts “against the order of nature” still remains in effect in Uganda, allowing for the continued arrests of alleged homosexual “offenders.”