Ex-gay activist faces homosexuality charges under Uganda law he advocated for

An anti-gay Ugandan activist has been jailed on charges of homosexuality in what a local paper has deemed the first major case since the nation enacted its brutal anti-homosexuality law.

Elisha Mukisa has made a name for himself as an “ex-gay” activist. He fervently advocated for the passage of the anti-homosexuality law, billing himself as a former “victim” of homosexuality. In March, he spoke before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in favor of the bill.

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Uganda could kill the first man charged under its “aggravated homosexuality” law

He is accused under Kill the Gays law of having “unlawful sexual intercourse” with another man.

Under the new law, the death penalty is applicable in cases considered “aggravated,” which include repeat offenses of homosexuality, sex that transmits a terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly person, or a person with disabilities. Critics say that the law demonizes gay people as immoral, disease-spreading sexual predators while further isolating the country’s already marginalized LGBTQ+ community.

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The Daily Monitor reports that Mukisa was arraigned this week alongside the man with whom he has been accused of engaging in homosexuality, Kitimbo Ramon Mwesigwa. Both have denied the allegations.

Activist Frank Mugisha called the situation “laden with irony.”

“This is in no way a sense of schadenfreude,” he said, “but rather a sense of disillusionment in our political class.”

Another activist, lawyer Nicholas Opiyo, also commented on the irony of the fact that “he’ll be tried under a law he so fervently promoted with disinformation and lies.”

But both Mugisha and Opiyo emphasized that Mukisa still has rights and deserves a fair trial.

“He blackmailed NGOs that have bent on queer rights work. But like night follows day, I knew the truth could not be hidden forever,” Mugisha said. “I also unequivocally state that more than anyone else he deserves to be tried with due process unlike what he wished for others.”

The Anti-Homosexuality Act, also referred to as the Kill the Gays law, was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May, after passage through the Ugandan parliament in March. All but two of the Christian-majority nation’s 389 members of parliament voted for the bill.

Earlier this month, the World Bank announced a halt to all lending in Uganda in response to the law’s passage.

The Biden administration has ordered a review of all U.S. aid to the East African nation, in addition to issuing a travel warning to Uganda citing issues of widespread “blackmail” and “violence” in the country.

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