The Ugandan Morality Crusade: The Brutal Campaign Against Homosexuality and Pornography Under Yoweri Museveni

2017 | Gender Studies

In 1999, General Museveni, Uganda's autocratic leader, ordered police to arrest homosexuals for engaging in behavior he characterized as "un-African" and against Biblical teaching. A state-sanctioned campaign of harassment of LGBT people followed. With the approval of sections of Uganda's clergy (and the support of U.S. evangelicals) harsh morality laws were passed against pornography and homosexual acts. The former disproportionately affected urban women, curtailing their freedoms. The latter - known as the "kill the gays bill" - called for life imprisonment or capital punishment for homosexuals. The author weaves together a series of vignettes and anecdotes that trace the development of Uganda's morality laws against a backdrop of Machiavellian politics, religious fundamentalism and the human rights struggle of LGBT Ugandans.

Deborah Kintu (Author)