Ugandan LGBTQ activists push for LGBTQ rights in a public demonstration.
Uganda has formally joined the Russia-led BRICS economic alliance, a move prompted by sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union in reaction to the East African nation’s Kill the Gays law, according to the country’s foreign minister in a veiled reference to the draconian legislation adopted in 2023.
“The US and EU, whenever they impose sanctions, expect all other countries to comply. Failure to do so results in penalties or further sanctions. Recently, they have begun freezing the assets of countries in their territories without UN resolutions, which breaches international order. Uganda cannot merely observe these changes without becoming part of the evolving global landscape,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem said in remarks to the Uganda Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday.
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He did not mention the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which imposes the death penalty for certain homosexual behavior, by name.
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Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed the measure into law in May 2023, inciting international condemnation and a raft of financial penalties from the West.
The World Bank halted loans to Uganda, President Joe Biden expelled the country from a U.S.-African trade pact, and protesters demanded the EU sanction Uganda over the “state-sponsored discrimination.” Pope Francis denounced the punitive measure as “unacceptable.”
A report issued in October estimated Uganda’s economic loss due to the Anti-Homosexuality Act at up to $1.6 billion, or as much as 3.2% of the country’s GDP.
BRICS is an economic alliance including original members Russia, China, Brazil, and India. It is modeled on the G7 group of nations, and Uganda’s legislation aligns with founding member Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ crusade.
Russia has been implicated in promoting Kill the Gays legislation in Uganda and other culturally conservative countries across Africa through its association with Family Watch International, the Arizona-based group that helped craft Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, its overturned precursor, and similar legislation in Kenya, Ghana, Burundi and other African nations.
Anti-LGBTQ+ activists in those countries have parroted Russia’s claim that an “international LGBT movement” is an example of Western “degeneracy” aimed at undermining “pro-family” nations.
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