World
Ugandan gay activist stresses LGBT equality key to fighting HIV/AIDS
Frank Mugisha attended the International AIDS Conference last week in D.C.
Frank Mugisha (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Does the fight for LGBT rights directly impact efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa?
Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha stressed during an interview with the Blade before he attended the International AIDS Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center last week that he feels the two movements are interconnected. He said that a majority of LGBT Ugandans remain in heterosexual relationships, but a lack of information and pervasive homophobia contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. “They’re married, they’re partnered, they’re in heterosexual relationships but as well they’re keeping their same-sex relations,” stressed Mugisha. “So that means there’s no information on any protective measures. There’s no information on anything so that means they’re engaging in unsafe sex and it is increasing HIV/AIDS.”
Mugisha, who is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, was among who those discussed the virus’ impact on men and boys and ways they can prevent its spread during a July 22 panel at AIDS
He said he also spoke with a Ugandan government official whom he declined to identify about anti-LGBT discrimination in the East African country during the conference. Mugisha told the Blade before AIDS 2012 that he planned to ask other Ugandan politicians who had traveled to D.C. to attend the five-day gathering about the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Bill that once contained a provision that would have imposed the death penalty upon anyone found guilty of repeated same-sex sexual acts and its impact on efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“I think they may be a bit defensive,” he said. “They may say that no, we don’t discriminate against anyone. Anyone can go seek help, treatment. We don’t ask people’s sexual orientation. I’ll tell them let’s be logical here. There’s no programming, there’s no information so how do you expect someone to go and seek genuine services.”
Mugisha, who is the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights’ 2011 laureate, also met with HIV/AIDS service providers and activists from Uganda and across Africa during AIDS 2012 that drew more than 30,000 delegates, journalists and activists to the nation’s capital.
“For me at the conference, the most important part is the network,” he said.
The Jan. 2011 murder of activist David Kato, who was SMUG’s then-advocacy and litigation officer, inside his Kampala home after a tabloid published his name and home address brought the plight of LGBT Ugandans onto the international stage.
While it remains unclear when Ugandan Parliamentarians will once again debate the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the government last month faced criticism after it shut down a gay rights workshop that the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project presented. SMUG in a lawsuit it filed in a Massachusetts federal court in March accused American evangelical Scott Lively of violating international law when he allegedly conspired with Ugandan political and religious leaders to further exploit homophobic attitudes in the East African country before Parliamentarian David Bahati introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2009.
Mugisha, who debated Lively on Al Jazeera English last week, stressed during a Georgetown University panel in May that the case is about highlighting the “ex-gay” leader’s homophobia. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both urged the Ugandan government to protect the rights of its LGBT citizens. The White House and British Prime Minister David Cameron have also suggested that the allocation of international aid should hinge upon a country’s record on LGBT rights.
Mugisha said that while this pressure has had some impact among Ugandan officials, he stressed that Americans should speak out against those from this country whom he contends continue to exploit anti-LGBT attitudes to advance their own agenda.
“We’ve seen most of the homophobia come from here — from the U.S. to Uganda, the American evangelicals,” he said.
Botswana’s government has repealed a provision of its colonial-era penal code that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The country’s High Court in 2019 struck down the provision. The Batswana government in 2022 said it would abide by the ruling after country’s Court of Appeals upheld it.
The government on March 26 announced the repeal of the penal code’s “unnatural offenses” section that specifically referenced any person who “has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” and “permits any other person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature.”
Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana, a Batswana advocacy group known by the acronym LEGABIBO, challenged the criminalization law with the support of the Southern Africa Litigation Center. LEGABIBO in a statement it posted to its Facebook on April 25 welcomed the repeal.
“For many, these provisions were not just words on paper — they were lived realities,” said LEGABIBO. “They affected access to healthcare, safety, employment, and the freedom to love and exist openly.”
“LEGABIBO believes that the deletion of these sections is a necessary and long-overdue step toward restoring dignity and aligning our legal framework with constitutional values of equality and human rights,” it added. “It is a clear message that LGBTIQ+ persons are not criminals, and that their lives and relationships deserve protection, not punishment.”
LEGABIBO further stressed that “while this does not erase the harm of the past, it creates space for healing, inclusion, and continued progress toward full equality.”
Cuba
Trans parent charged with kidnapping, allegedly fled to Cuba with child
Cuban authorities helped locate Rose Inessa-Ethington
Federal authorities have charged a transgender woman with kidnapping after she allegedly fled to Cuba with her 10-year-old child.
An affidavit that Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on April 16 notes the child is a “biological male who identifies as a female” and “splits time living with divorced parents who share custody” in Cache County, Utah.
Waterfield notes the child on March 28 “was supposed to be traveling by car to” Calgary, Alberta, “for a planned camping trip with his transgender mother, Rose Inessa-Ethington, Rose’s partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and Blue’s 3-year-old child.”
The affidavit notes the group instead flew from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico City on March 29. Waterfield writes the Inessa-Ethingtons and the two children then flew from Mérida, Mexico, to Havana on April 1.
The 10-year-old child called her biological mother on March 28 after they arrived in Canada. The custody agreement, according to the affidavit, required Rose Inessa-Ethington to return the child to her former spouse on April 3.
“Interviews of MV [Minor Victim] 1’s family members provided significant concerns for MV 1’s well-being, as MV 1 was born a male, however, identifies as a female child, which is largely believed to be due to manipulation by Rose Inessa-Ethington,” reads the affidavit. “Concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
The affidavit indicates authorities found a note in the Inessa-Ethingtons’ home with “instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington, D.C., including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender-affirming medical care for children.”
The affidavit does not identify the specific “mental health therapist” in D.C.
A Utah judge on April 13 ordered Rose Inessa-Ethington to “immediately” return the child to her former spouse. The former spouse also received sole custody.
“Your affiant believes that due to the extensive planning and preparation exhibited by both Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington to isolate MV 1 and take MV 1 to Havana, Cuba, without notifying or requesting permission from MV 1’s mother indicates they are likely not planning to return to the United States,” wrote Waterfield.
The affidavit notes Cuban authorities found the Inessa-Ethingtons and the child.
A press release the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah issued notes the Inessa-Ethingtons “were deported from Cuba” on Monday “with the assistance of the FBI.”
The couple has been charged with International Parental Kidnapping. The Inessa-Ethingtons were arraigned in Richmond, Va., on Monday. The press release notes a federal court in Salt Lake City will soon handle the case.
The New York Times reported the child is now back with their biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah in the press release.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of increased tensions between Washington and Havana after U.S. forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January 2025 issued an executive order that directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: male and female. A second White House directive banned federally-funded gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in the Skrmetti decision upheld a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.
Cuba’s national health care system has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries since 2008.
Activists who are critical of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, have previously told the Washington Blade that access to these procedures is limited. The Blade on Wednesday asked a contact in Havana to clarify whether Cuban law currently allows minors to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
Australia
Australia lifts additional restrictions on LGBTQ blood donors
Gay, bisexual men, trans people in long-term monogamous relationships can now donate
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Lifeblood) has lifted additional restrictions on LGBTQ people who want to donate blood.
The Star-Observer, an Australian LGBTQ newspaper, reported new Lifeblood rules that took effect on Monday will allow “gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term monogamous relationships to donate blood and platelets for the first time.”
The new policy defines “long-term monogamous relationships” as those that are at least six months.
All potential donors — regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity — will answer the same questions about recent sexual activity.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” said Lifeblood CEO Stephen Cornelissen in a press release that announced the new policy. “These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets for the first time.”
Lifeblood in 2025 ended its blanket ban on sexually active LGBTQ people from donating blood.
Rodney Croome, an Australian LGBTQ activist who is the spokesperson for Let Us Give, a campaign that has championed the changes, donated blood on Monday.
“After three decades of advocacy, and for the first time in my life, I was able to donate blood today,” said Croome in a Facebook post that showed him donating blood. “From today, gay men, and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, are able to give blood without the traditional three month abstinence period. All donors are now asked the same questions about sex regardless of the gender of our sexual partners.”
Croome in the post said “there are still problems with the new donor regime,” but said Let Us Give will continue to work with Lifeblood.
“Those who may have not been monogamous in the recent past should not be subject to a six month wait time,” he wrote. “Three months is considered more than enough in the UK, US and Canada. It should be here too. People on PrEP and trans people also face continued barriers. Let Us Give will continue to work towards greater equity in donation.”
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