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Uganda president declines to sign queerphobic bill

Measure sent back to Parliament for review

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Uganda, gay news, Washington Blade
(Public domain photo)

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has refused to sign the country’s infamous “Sexual Offenses Bill” that Parliament approved in May, on grounds that it details offenses already covered by pre-existing laws. 

“President Museveni has rejected to assent to the Sexual Offenses Bill, saying many provisions are redundant and already provided for in other legislations,” the Daily Monitor reports. “Deputy Speaker of Parliament Anita Among made the communication to the House …”

The bill has been returned to the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs for review “to address the redundancies.”

Although this is a positive development for LGBTQ Ugandans and activists, the East African country is embroiled in harsh queerphobic sentiment institutionally. And there still exists a culture that makes it unsafe to live in Uganda as a queer person.

The Washington Blade spoke with Ikechukwu Uzoma, staff attorney for RFK Human Rights, and Adrian Jjuuko, executive director of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), before Museveni’s announcement about the details of the Sexual Offenses Bill and how its enactment could reshape Uganda’s LGBTQ landscape.

What is the Sexual Offenses Bill?

The Sexual Offenses Bill, which MP Monicah Amoding originally introduced in 2015, “seeks to consolidate laws relating to sexual offenses and provide procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and proposes several measures to check among others, sexual harassment in schools by guardians or teachers.”

The bill would also criminalize same-sex relationships and sex work.

“The laws were passed … reiterating sections of legislation first enforced in the country by British colonial rule,” the Guardian reports. “They condemn same-sex couples who perform acts deemed against the ‘order of nature’ to 10 years’ imprisonment.”

OutRight Action International also notes “same-sex relations have been criminalized in Uganda since British colonial times in sections 145 on ‘unnatural offenses’ and 148 on ‘indecent practices’ of the Penal Code, with a maximum sentence of life in prison foreseen. Clause 11 of the Sexual Offenses Bill further confirms this existing criminalization.”

Parliament passed the bill in May of this year. Questions regarding its legitimacy rose among LGBTQ individuals and activists as Museveni won his sixth presidential term and new MPs were sworn in.

“[When the bill was enacted], that was a time when Parliament was coming to an end, before we went into elections and [installed] a new Parliament,” said Jjuuko. “So when the new Parliament was sworn in, there was a question around what the actual legal status of a bill was that had been passed by Parliament, but not signed by the president.” 

Although the proposed legislation went through an “in limbo” phase and was not fully bonafide, Jjuuko said Ugandans treated the legislation as if it were fully implemented. 

“In Uganda, the law matters, but it also doesn’t. In other words it doesn’t matter what the situation is. With what the law right now is, the persecution of LGBT people will remain,” said Jjuuko.

Jjuuko further mentioned that when politicians have legislative ideas, they campaign for them in Parliament discussions and media appearances, thereby signalling to the country’s population the seriousness of whatever ideas they propose. Additionally, the word “bill” in Luganda, the country’s local language, has the same translation as the word “law.” 

These campaigns, coupled with the lack of a clear distinction between a bill and law in Luganda, create a general culture where the country’s population will behave as if it were an instituted law, regardless of whether it has been signed or not.

In response to what this means for law enforcement officials and how they would treat LGBTQ citizens, Jjuuko said that police officers rely on a new form of LGBTQ persecution: Charging individuals with committing “negligent acts.”

“The police, who should know better, usually charge people with either an existing offense or some new offense,” said Jjuuko. “There’s now a new trend in Uganda [where police officers] charge someone with negligent acts of spreading disease infections, and this comes from provisions in the old penal code which is not even about COVID-19. It just [resurfaced when the pandemic began].” 

Jjuuko also said the police are aware that they’re unable to charge an individual with “carnal knowledge.” They hence resort to charges of participating in intimate acts that can spread disease infections. So, even though general conversations focus on minimizing the spread of COVID-19, the larger picture depicts a commercial campaign to curb LGBTQ rights in Uganda.

This has led to an increase in mass arrests of LGBTQ individuals, with 44 people being arrested as recently as June, and consequently being charged with breaching pandemic restrictions as they pertain to the sizes of public gatherings.

What’s next?

Now that Museveni has refused to assent the bill, it has been returned to Parliament for further review. It will be presented to him again for re-consideration. 

Jjuuko mentioned that if Museveni refuses to assent the bill once again, Parliament can enact it into a law by voting and taking advantage of what they call a “supermajority.”

In the event this happens Uzoma said, “it’s very easy, we [RFK Human Rights] just follow [Jjuuko’s] lead, and do whatever he tells us to do. [However], I think that [the bill being passed] really does change the matrix of decision making and planning.”

Uzoma further mentioned that whatever work RFK Human Rights is currently doing they will continue to do. If the bill is passed, it is inevitable that there will be more arrests and convictions. Therefore, the U.N.-style engagements that RFK Human Rights has had in the past around such detentions would continue.

Uzoma also said that the RFK Human Rights would also probably create a well-structured campaign that not only serves those in Uganda, but also covers the extraterritorial jurisdiction components detailed in the bill that would make it illegal for Ugandans to participate in same-sex relations outside of the country.

Jjuuko is certain his advocacy work will persist. 

“I know for sure that whatever happens, our work will go on. Nothing is going to stop us because I kind of feel like we’ve lived through worse,” said Jjuuko.

Jjuuko is aware of society’s progress with adopting more favorable views of the LGBTQ community and has emphasized that this has also influenced progress for Uganda.

“There’s positive continuous progress [and] they are fighting us because they know that we are winning and making progress. So, [the endless persecutions] are signs that [the government] also realizes something is wrong in their own strategy of making sure that there are no LGBTI people in Uganda,” said Jjuuko.

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India

India broadcast authority asks TV station to delete video deemed offensive to LGBTQ community

Activist Indrajeet Ghorpad filed complaint

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(YouTube screenshot)

India’s News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority on Feb. 28 asked a television station to delete a video that contained objectionable remarks against the LGBTQ community. 

The India Today video report’s headline was “Nudity sparks outrage at USA Pride parades: How India’s LGBTQ+ lead responsibly.” The clip reportedly contained factual inaccuracies, spread fear and demonized the LGBTQ community.

NBDSA has asked India Today to remove all hyperlinks to the video from every one of its platforms. The regulatory agency has issued guidelines for broadcasters about the LGBTQ community and asked to circulate it among all its editors and members. The broadcasting authority announced the directives after hearing a complaint that Indrajeet Ghorpad, an LGBTQ rights activist, filed.

Ghorpad said the program did not comply with the principles of “accuracy, neutrality, objectivity, good taste, decency and others.” Ghorpad also said it portrayed Pride parades in the U.S. in a negative light and unfavorably compared them with India’s LGBTQ community.

The NBDSA had received several complaints on the community’s portrayal. It issued five guidelines to sensitize and bring objectivity when covering the LGBTQ community in India, apart from the existing code of ethics and broadcasting standards.

The NBDSA on March 1 issued guidelines on how to report on issues faced by the LGBTQ community with accuracy, objectivity and sensitivity, and further said that non-sensitive and inaccurate reporting regarding the community has serious social repercussions.

The guidelines say “reporting should not sensationalize or create panic, distress or undue fear among viewers.” They also state broadcasters must avoid broadcasting any news that sensationalizes the issues related to the LGBTQ community, perpetuates stereotypes or creates fear in respect of the community.

The recommendations say broadcasters should refrain from using any expression or slur that may be construed as “hate speech” against the LGBTQ community. They also note broadcasters while covering any issue concerning the LGBTQ community must ensure their reporting does not promote homophobia or transphobia, or negative stereotypes about the LGBTQ community.

The guidelines say broadcasters must respect the privacy of LGBTQ people and not disclose personal information, including gender identity or sexual orientation of a person without their consent. The guidelines further state broadcasters should use inclusive and gender-neutral language, and respect the individuals’ preferred pronouns and names. Broadcasters, according to the guidelines, must strive for diverse representation in their coverage of the LGBTQ community and ensure voices from different segments of the LGBTQ community are provided a platform to express their views.

The incident is not a first Indian media. 

TV9 Telugu, a Telugu language television station, in 2011 did a sting operation on LGBTQ members of a gay dating site, over which the news channel faced the community’s wrath in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. The channel at that time broadcasted the operation all over the country and released profiles and pictures of the site’s users. 

The LGBTQ community protested outside the channel’s office in Mumbai by wearing condoms on their middle fingers.

NBDSA in April 2022 sanctioned TV9 Teluguand Sakshi TV, another Telugu-language 24-hour news channel, for sensationalizing a police raid in Hyderabad after neighbors complained of loud noise. The two channels broadcasted visuals of the party and individuals attending it, violating privacy and highlighting their sexual orientation without their consent.

Negha Shahin, a transgender Indian actress, told the Washington Blade that social media today has become an unsafe, toxic and hate-spreading tool with regards to trans and queer people.

“Mocking LGBTQIA+ folks is becoming a new trend. Content creators are creating content against queer folks, dangerous things are getting attention and triggering homophobia and transphobia,” said Shahin. “Meanwhile TV media like India Today is playing major part and considered as responsible news network. If they did not follow the guidelines then how will the society will follow? Journalists, politicians, actors, police, lawyers whoever addressing issues related to (the) minority community in India, should mind the glossary. They cannot be transphobic or homophobic. They cannot oppress, misgender, following stereotypes and creating false statement or news in the media.”

Shahin said news channels in India that do not following the guidelines are showing their hatred against the LGBTQ community. She said these incidents remind everyone that uprooting stereotypes and homophobia from society in every form is important.

Harish Iyer, a prominent equal rights activist in India, told the Blade that accepting different sexuality is not a Western or Indian concept, but rather a scientific one that cuts across geographies and sex.

“If channels are broadcasting this, they are not doing against gender or sexuality but against science and humanity,” said Iyer. “More than expunging and deleting the video, the corrective actions like watchdogs will ensure corrective actions are required. The guidelines are in sync with what the Supreme Court of India and the Constitution of India stand for. With a name like India Today, they stand against the very tenet of Indianism which is enshrined in the constitution that provides equal opportunity and equal protection of the law against any discrimination regardless of gender and sexuality, so I think, India Today, should not have the India in their name because that goes against the tenet of Indian constitution and the Supreme Court’s verdict as well. There should be something mandatory for the news channels, and not just the guidelines.”

India Today did not respond to the Blade’s multiple requests for comment.

Ankush Kumar is a reporter who has covered many stories for Washington and Los Angeles Blades from Iran, India and Singapore. He recently reported for the Daily Beast. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is on Twitter at @mohitkopinion. 

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South America

Argentina’s president seeks to dismantle anti-discrimination agency

Activists have sharply criticized Javier Milei’s move

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Argentine President Javier Milei (Screen capture via YouTube)

Argentinian President Javier Milei’s proposed closure of his country’s National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism has sparked widespread criticism among LGBTQ activists and human rights defenders.

Alba Rueda, the former Undersecretary of Diversity Policies in the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry who was also the country’s Special Representative on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity under Alberto Fernández’s government, and gay Congressman Esteban Paulón in exclusive interviews with the Washington Blade talked about the Feb. 22 announcement’s implications and the impact it will have on Argentine society at a time marked by an acute economic, political and social crisis.

Rueda said INADI’s closure is a serious setback in the fight against discrimination and the advancement of human rights in Argentina. 

“INADI is a human rights agency that has been in force in Argentina for almost 30 years, which emerged as a response to the international attacks we suffered,” she pointed out. “This body has been fundamental in the attention of discrimination cases, including strategic litigation such as the (murder) of Diana Sacayán (a prominent transgender rights activist) in 2015.” 

Paulón said INADI’s closure is part of a broader policy of harassment towards diversity and state institutions that Milei’s government has carried out.

“INADI, along with the already eliminated Women Ministry, has been fundamental in the defense of the rights of LGBTQ+ and queer people,” said Paulón.

“In practical facts, the government cannot close INADI because INADI has been created by a law and it would require another law to close it,” he added. “Therefore, it has been raised that there is going to be a restructuring of personnel, a readjustment of resources that are going to continue processing complaints, but that they are going to pass to the orbit of the Justice Ministry, where INADI already is, but let’s say, they would pass without the institutionalism and that it would remain as an empty shell until the government achieves the consensus of a law to eliminate.”

Both agreed that INADI’s closure represents a serious setback in the protection of human rights in Argentina and a threat to the most vulnerable groups in society, including LGBTQ people. They also stressed Milei’s government has used this announcement as part of a broader strategy to dismantle democratic institutions and the country’s human rights agenda.

INADI cannot be closed unilaterally, despite the announcement, because a law created it and another statute would be required to dismantle it. There are, however, concerns the government may attempt to dismantle the institution or reduce its operational capacity.

“The decision to close INADI responds to an ideological position,” said Rueda. “They believe that INADI is the policeman of this, the ideological policeman. It is a body that functions autonomously whose president is appointed by the Congress and which also has a board of directors of social organizations.”

Critics of Milei’s government argue INADI’s closure is part of a strategy to consolidate power and repress dissent. They say the government is using the economic crisis as a pretext to implement authoritarian measures that limit civil liberties and weaken democratic institutions.

Milei’s supporters, on the other hand, defend the move as part of a broader effort to reduce public spending and promote liberal economic policies. They argue INADI’s closure is necessary to eliminate waste and corruption in government, and that its impact on human rights and LGBTQ protection is overstated.

“For LGTB people in particular, the closure of INADI would leave us without a place where we could basically receive attention in the face of discrimination,” Rueda pointed out. “And another issue that INADI also did is that it generated public policy recommendations or developed public policies for the prevention and awareness of these changes that have to take place in society.”

“So, not only do we run out of spaces for denunciation, but also of where to change this culture of discrimination, culture of discrimination that are present in the labor market that Milei presents or points out to you, as a success and that this is self-regulated,” she added. 

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South America

Alleged masterminds of Rio councilwoman’s murder arrested

Marielle Franco and her driver were killed on March 14, 2018

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Marielle Franco (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

Brazilian authorities on Sunday arrested two people who they say masterminded the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver.

The Associated Press reported the country’s federal police arrested Congressman Chiquinho Brazão and his brother, former Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assemblyman Domingos Brazão, who advises the state’s Audits Court. Authorities on Sunday also took into custody former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa and charged him with obstruction of justice.

Authorities say two former fire fighters — Elcio de Queiroz and Ronnie Lessa — shot Franco and Anderson Gomes in Rio’s Lapa neighborhood on March 14, 2018.

Franco, a bisexual woman and single mother of African descent, grew up in Maré, a favela in the northern part of Rio that is close to the city’s international airport. Franco, among other things, was an outspoken critic of police raids in Rio’s favelas that have left hundreds of people dead.

Authorities last July arrested Maxwell Simões Correia, a former firefighter who allegedly hid the guns that De Queiroz and Lessa used to shoot Franco and Gomes. The Brazilian Supreme Court last week approved a plea agreement into which Lessa entered. 

The AP reported Federal Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski at a press conference told reporters the Brazão brothers have “multiple interests” and Chiquinho Brazão, who was a member of the Rio Municipal Council in 2018, was angry about Franco’s bill that would have zoned land for public housing in the city. The Brazão brothers also have reported ties to militias in the city.

“At this moment we have it very clear who are the perpetrators of this hateful, heinous crime of political nature,” said Lewandowski.

Franco’s widow, Mônica Benício, who was elected to the Rio Municipal Council in 2020, discussed the status of the investigation with the Washington Blade during a March 2022 interview in Rio.

“The struggle for justice to find out who ordered the murder and how high up they were indicates we are still far from knowing,” said Benício.

Franco’s family in a statement said their fight for justice will continue.

“This case reflects the structural impunity in cases of crimes committed by agents or former agents of the State against the lives of human and civil rights defenders, such as Marielle and Anderson Gomes, segments of society that suffer widespread damage to rights in society and have structural difficulty in accessing justice,” it reads.

Domingos Brazão’s lawyer has denied the allegations against his client, saying he “did not know Marielle.” Chiquinho Brazão and Barbosa have also proclaimed their innocence. 

The three men, who were arrested in Rio, will be transferred to Brasília, the country’s capital.

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