National
Uganda headed toward passing draconian anti-gay legislation
Activist wants demonstrations at Ugandan embassies across the globe
Activist Frank Mugisha is calling for protests at Ugandan embassies throughout the world (Blade file photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Movement on a draconian anti-gay bill in Uganda is raising concerns the legislation may be headed toward passage in the coming weeks, although it’s questionable whether the infamous death penalty provision remains in the bill.
Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality in the United States, said the legislation — which has drawn the ire of the international community for its proposed incarceration of gay people and concerns it would institute the death penalty for homosexual acts — seems likely headed for a floor vote in the coming weeks before the legislature adjourns on Dec. 14.
“All indications are that it’s really going to come up for a vote this time,” Bromley said. “We hear from several sources that it won’t come up until at least mid-week next week and probably maybe even a little bit later, but everyone we’ve talked to is pretty concerned that it really is going to come for a vote before the parliament recesses for the holidays, so sometime before mid-December.”
Media reports indicated that the bill on Friday had passed the committee of jurisdiction in the Uganda parliament.
Frank Mugisha, an activist coordinating Sexual Minorities Uganda, issued a statement to supporters on Friday decrying the legislation just before the committee acted on it.
“The bill does little more than to entrench stigma and prejudice, which will polarize the Ugandan society further and undermine public health efforts to combat the spread of HIV,” Mugisha said. “It places a total ban on public discussion of an issue whose existence cannot be wished away. If the bill is adopted, it will make Uganda a pariah in the international community. We therefore urge the Ugandan Parliament to reject this bill in its entirety.”
Mugisha also called on sympathizers to protest before the Uganda foreign missions in various countries. Previously protests were held at the Ugandan Embassy in the United States last year and at the time of the bill’s introduction in 2009.
“When the bill was first introduced in 2009 we called upon our regional and international partners and allies for support in denouncing this bill in simultaneous demonstrations at Ugandan foreign missions in your respective countries,” Mugisha said. “We ask you once again to stand with us and do simultaneous peaceful demonstrations at Ugandan foreign missions in your respective countries.”
Bromley said Friday he’s unaware of any plans for upcoming protests before the Uganda Embassy in the United States, but expects to hear about such plans shortly.
Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda and punishable by up to 14 years in prison, but the proposed legislation would expand existing law to institute life imprisonment for those found guilty of homosexuality. The legislation also prohibits supporting LGBT rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who funds or sponsors them. According to Mugisha, parents and teachers would be fined if they don’t report gay children and students and landlords who rent to gay people would be punished with jail time.
The legislation — colloquially known in the United States as the “Kill the Gays” bill — became infamous in the international community since its introduction in 2009 for including a provision that would institute the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” Under an earlier version of the bill, that was defined as someone with HIV engaging in homosexual acts, having homosexual sex with a minor or repeated offense of homosexuality.
But it’s unclear whether this provision remains in the legislation. Early on Friday, BBC News Africa reported that a legislative committee had “endorsed” the legislation, but had dropped the death penalty provision. But, as Box Turtle Bulletin’s Jim Burroway points out, that language has been reportedly dropped from the legislation before and yet has returned to the bill.
Bromley said whether the death penalty language has in fact been dropped isn’t certain because the committee has yet release its report — and, in earlier iterations of the bill, the death penalty was apparently removed, but was worked in as a possible punishment for homosexuality in a less overt way.
“I heard before that they took the death penalty provision out, and it turns out that wasn’t in fact the case — or that the way did it, the wording was still ambiguous,” Bromley said. “My guess is — if they really bring this up for a vote, which it looks like they’re going to — given the international condemnation, they probably will take out the death penalty, but I just think it’s a little early to say definitively that they have taken it out until we see what they’re going to vote on.”
The legislation is apparently moving forward at this time — after being bottled up for years in committee — because Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga is pushing for action on the legislation.
According to another report in BBC News Africa, Kadaga felt her country’s sovereignty was insulted after Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird warned Uganda not to trample on human rights. Kadaga was quoted as saying, “If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada they should not seek to force Uganda to embrace it. We are not a colony or a protectorate of Canada.”
Kadaga was quoted later in the piece as saying, “Ugandans want that law as a Christmas gift. They have asked for it and we’ll give them that gift.”
Activists urge condemnation of legislation
Gay activists in Uganda had urged world leaders in the international community to remain silent on the legislation, but amid fears that the legislation would move forward, at least one is changing his tune.
Geoffrey Ogwaro, co-coordinator of Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Uganda, sent an email to supporters urging world leaders — including President Obama — to speak out against the legislation.
“It is now with profound sadness that we give the clear for any form of international outcry against this determined move by parliament to pass this bill,” Oswogo said. “We urge you all now to go all out to condemn this move in any way you see as fitting including statements (we would be glad if President Obama and other world leaders issued stern statements condemning,)” Ogwaro said.
The Obama administration has already made its opposition known about the bill. In February 2010, President Obama called the legislation “odious” and the State Department has offered numerous statements reiterating its opposition to the bill. The White House and the State Department this week didn’t respond to a request to comment in time for this posting.
Nonetheless, Bromley expressed confidence that the Obama administration — as well as the U.S. embassy in Uganda — is being active in efforts to ensure the anti-gay legislation doesn’t become law.
“We’ve been in close contact with the State Department and the White House — and they’re both following it very closely,” Bromley said. “The embassy is intensely engaged on the ground and they’re still quietly negotiating with the government, but we’re very proud and very confident they really are taking this very seriously and putting the full force of diplomatic policy into this issue.”
Bromley said he expects additional high-level statements from the U.S. government next week as the situation in Uganda regarding a floor vote on the bill becomes more clear.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, joined in the calls for others to speak out against the anti-homosexuality, but said the condemnation should come from U.S. religious leaders — such as Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, and voices from the Trinity Broadcasting Network — who have known ties to Uganda’s leaders.
“American faith leaders know that calling for the death penalty — or even calling for imprisonment of — an entire community is not in line with Christian values,” Griffin said. “American Christian faith leaders with ties to Uganda, like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes, must reach out to their influential Ugandan friends to ensure that the human rights of Ugandans are not put up to a vote.”
Should U.S. aid to Uganda be slashed?
One question is whether the United States should threaten to cut off foreign aid to Uganda if the legislature moves forward in passing the legislation. The country is known for being a beneficiary of the President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a program aimed at providing drugs to people living with AIDS overseas.
U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Scott DeLisi was quoted in a Uganda newspaper as saying the United States “has decided to continue giving aid to Uganda despite the ongoing numerous investigations into the misuse of foreign aid,” but that statement was in response to a corruption and not the anti-gay bill. Britain and Sweden are among the countries that have threatened to cut off foreign aid to the country as a result of the anti-gay bill.
In a blog posting on Friday, John Aravosis, calls into question the decision against withholding U.S. aid to Uganda, saying cuts to foreign aid would be a better solution to the nation’s “fiscal cliff” crisis as opposed to proposed cuts to Medicare or Social Security.
“The UK just suspended aid to Uganda five days ago over concerns about ‘misuse of funds,'” Aravosis writes. “Works for me. Call it what you want. Genocide. Misuse of funds. I don’t care. But the Brits have stopped giving their money to thugs and thieves. While U.S. Ambassador Scott DeLisi seems to be aiding and abetting them. Maybe we should cut his budget too.”
The Washington Blade reported in May 2011 that African LGBT activists who attended a panel on the issue at the World Bank opposed the idea of threatening to cut U.S. aid to Uganda as a means to prevent the bill for being passed because it may lead to backlash targeting the LGBT community instead of the bill.
Bromley said the decision over whether to cut aid to Uganda is “a really difficult call,” although he acknowledged the relationship between the United States and Uganda would change if the bill were passed into law.
“A threat to cut off aid also potentially endangers the LGBT community on the ground, who could suffer the consequences or be blamed for it,” Bromley said. “I think it’s clear that our current bilateral relationship would be severely impacted, and that certainly our massive investment in HIV/AIDS would be affected because certain programming would no longer be legal or even safe. I think there’s doubt that if it passes, it has to impact our broad relationship, including our funding relationship, but until we see what happens, it’s dangerous to call for an across the board cut to aid.”
New York
Pride flag raised at Stonewall after National Park Service took it down
‘Our flag represents dignity and human rights’
A Pride flag was raised at the site of the Stonewall National Monument days after a National Park Service directive banned flying the flag at the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S.
The flag-raising was led by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and supported by other elected officials.
“The community should rejoice. We have prevailed,” Hoylman-Sigal said shortly after the flag was hoisted. “Our flag represents dignity and human rights.”
The flag now sits in Christopher Street Park, feet away from the Stonewall Inn, where in 1969 a police raid of the gay bar sparked outrage and led to a rising of LGBTQ people pushing back on NYPD brutality and unjust treatment.
Elected officials brought a new flagpole with them, using plastic zip ties to attach it to the existing pole.
In 2016, President Barack Obama declared the site a national monument.
One day before the planned re-raising of the Pride flag, the National Park Service installed only an American flag on the flagpole, which days prior had flown a rainbow flag bearing the NPS logo.
The directive removing the flag was put forward by Trump-appointed National Park Service Acting Director Jessica Bowron.
This comes one day after more than 20 LGBTQ organizations from across the country co-signed a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and General Services Administrator Ed Forst, demanding the flag be restored to the monument.
“It is our understanding that the policy provides limited exceptions for non-agency flags that provide historical context or play a role in historic reenactments. Simply put, we urge you to grant this flag an exception and raise it once again, immediately,” the letter read. “It also serves as an important reminder to the 30+ million LGBTQ+ Americans, who continue to face disproportionate threats to our lives and our liberty, that the sites and symbols that tell our stories are worth honoring … However, given recent removals of the site’s references to transgender and bisexual people — people who irrefutably played a pivotal role in this history — it is clear that this is not about the preservation of the historical record.”
The letter finished with a message of resilience the LGBTQ community is known for: “The history and the legacy of Stonewall must live on. Our community cannot simply be erased with the removal of a flag. We will continue to stand up and fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ history should not only be protected — it should be celebrated as a milestone in American resilience and progress.”
When asked about the directive, the NPS responded with this statement:
“Current Department of the Interior policy provides that the National Park Service may only fly the U.S. flag, Department of the Interior flags, and the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag on flagpoles and public display points. The policy allows limited exceptions, permitting non-agency flags when they serve an official purpose. These include historical context or reenactments, current military branch flags, flags of federally recognized tribal nations affiliated with a park, flags at sites co-managed with other federal, state, or municipal partners, flags required for international park designations, and flags displayed under agreements with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for Naturalization ceremonies.”
An Interior Department spokesperson on Thursday called the move to return the flag to the monument a “political stunt.”
“Today’s political pageantry shows how utterly incompetent and misaligned the New York City officials are with the problems their city is facing,” a department spokesperson said when reached for comment.
The clash comes amid broader efforts by the Trump-Vance administration to minimize LGBTQ history and political power. The White House has spent much of President Donald Trump’s second presidency restricting transgender rights — stopping gender-affirming care for transgender youth, issuing an executive order stating the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and blocking Medicaid and Medicare from being used for gender-affirming care.
State Department
FOIA lawsuit filed against State Department for PEPFAR records
Council for Global Equality, Physicians for Human Rights seeking data, documents
The Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents.
The groups, which Democracy Forward represents, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.
Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima last March said PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives around the world.
The Trump-Vance administration in January 2025 froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of gaps in U.S. funding. HIV/AIDS activists have also sharply criticized the Trump-Vance administration over reported plans it will not fully fund PEPFAR in the current fiscal year.
The lawsuit notes the Council for Global Equality and Physicians for Human Rights have “filed several FOIA requests” with the State Department for PEPFAR-related data and documents. The groups filed their most recent request on Jan. 30.
“On Jan. 30, 2026, plaintiffs, through counsel, sent State a letter asking it to commit to prompt production of the requested records,” reads the lawsuit. “State responded that the request was being processed but did not commit to any timeline for production.”
“Plaintiffs have received no subsequent communication from State regarding this FOIA request,” it notes.
“Transparency and inclusion have been hallmarks of PEPFAR’s success in the last decade,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, a senior policy fellow at the Council for Global Equality, in a press release that announced the lawsuit. “This unprecedented withholding of data, and concurrent ideological misdirection of foreign assistance to exclude LGBTQI+ people and others who need inclusive programming, has potentially devastating and asymmetrical impacts on already marginalized communities.”
“This data is vital to understanding who’s getting access to care and who’s being left behind,” added Roose-Snyder.
“We filed this lawsuit to seek transparency: the administration’s PEPFAR data blackout withholds information the public, health providers, and affected communities need to track the HIV epidemic and prevent avoidable illness and death, obscuring the true human cost of these policy decisions,” said Physicians for Human Rights Research, Legal, and Advocacy Director Payal Shah.
The State Department has yet to respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
New York
N.Y. lawmaker vows ‘Pride flag will fly again’ at Stonewall Monument
After a Jan. 21 policy shift, Pride flags were banned at national parks, prompting backlash from Bottcher and LGBTQ advocates.
Hours after news broke that the National Park Service would no longer allow Pride flags to fly at the Stonewall National Monument — the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the United States — the Washington Blade spoke with New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher, who represents the area surrounding the Stonewall Inn and the national monument.
During the interview, Bottcher, who is gay, spoke about the policy change and outlined steps he plans to take in the coming days to push for its reversal.
“This is another act of erasure,” Bottcher told the Blade. “It’s a cowardly attempt to rewrite history and to intimidate our community. This is Stonewall — it’s where we fought back, where we ignited a global movement for equality — and we refuse to go back. We’re not going to accept these acts of erasure.”
The Stonewall Inn became a flashpoint in 1969 after NYPD officers raided the bar, part of a longstanding pattern of police harassment of LGBTQ spaces. The raid sparked days of protest and resistance along Christopher Street, now widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
While the events are often referred to as the “Stonewall Riots,” many activists and historians prefer the term “Stonewall Uprising,” emphasizing that the resistance was a response to systemic oppression rather than senseless violence. LGBTQ patrons and community members fought back — shouting “Gay Power!” and “Liberate Christopher Street!” — as crowds grew and frustration with police abuse boiled over.
Since the uprising, LGBTQ people and allies have gathered annually in June to commemorate Stonewall and to celebrate Pride, honoring the movement that placed LGBTQ voices at the center of the fight for equality.
In June 2016, then President Barack Obama officially designated the space as the Stonewall National Monument, making it the United States’s first national monument designated for an LGBTQ historic site.
Now, nearly 10 years later, President Trump’s appointed NPS acting director Jessica Bowron changed policy on Jan. 21 regarding which flags are allowed to be flown in national parks. Many, including Bottcher, say this is part of a larger targeted and deliberate attempt by the administration to erase LGBTQ history.
“It’s clear they’re making a conscious decision to erase the symbols of our community from a monument to our community’s struggle,” he said. “This is a calculated and premeditated decision, and it could be — and should be — reversed.”
“Let’s be clear,” Bottcher added, “they wish we didn’t exist … But we’re not going anywhere. We refuse to go back into the shadows.”
When asked why it is critical to challenge the policy, Bottcher emphasized the importance of visibility in preserving LGBTQ history.
“This is why it’s so important that we not let this stand,” he said. “Visibility is critical. When people see us, learn about us, and get to know us, that’s how we break down prejudice and stereotypes. We cannot allow them to push us back into the shadows.”
Other LGBTQ leaders and elected officials were quick to condemn the removal of the Pride flag, which had flown since the site’s official designation as a national monument.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the decision “outrageous.”
“I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change or silence that history.”
“Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it,” he added. “I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors — without exception.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also condemned the move.
“The removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed immediately,” Schumer said in a statement to The Advocate. “Stonewall is a landmark because it is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, and symbols of that legacy belong there by both history and principle.”
Cathy Renna, communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said the flag’s removal will not erase the movement it represents.
“They can take down a flag, but they can’t take down our history,” Renna said. “Stonewall is sacred ground rooted in resistance, liberation, and the legacy of trans and queer trailblazers who changed the course of history.”
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf echoed that sentiment.
“Bad news for the Trump administration: these colors don’t run,” Wolf said. “The Stonewall Inn and Visitors Center are privately owned, their flags are still flying high, and that community is just as queer today as it was yesterday.”
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, said the removal was aimed squarely at LGBTQ visibility.
“The Pride flag was removed from Stonewall for one reason: to further erase queer and trans people from public life,” Hack said. “Stonewall marks the moment when queer and trans people fought back and demanded dignity. Our history is not theirs to erase.”
Bottcher closed with a promise to his constituents — and to the broader LGBTQ community — that the Pride flag’s removal would not be permanent.
“We will not be erased. We will not be silenced,” he said. “And the Pride flag will fly again at the birthplace of our movement.”
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