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“Because it is against my religion and African culture”: The influence of religion and culture on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (2023)

  • Human Rights Research Center
  • May 21
  • 15 min read

May 21, 2026


Note: This study was sponsored by the Universal Coalition of Affirming Africans Uganda and published with permission through the Human Rights Research Center.


Under Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, two women face life in prison following allegations of them kissing in public. [Image credit: RDNE Stock project / Pexels via MambaOnline]
Under Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, two women face life in prison following allegations of them kissing in public. [Image credit: RDNE Stock project / Pexels via MambaOnline]

Introduction

 

In Uganda, religion and culture are commonly cited as the basis for rejecting the LGBTQ+ community. This article seeks to examine the influence of religion and culture in enacting Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality laws. We argue that religion is the main influencer of these laws. One key reason cited for why religion ostracizes same sex relationships is due to the belief that same sex relationships do not lead to the reproduction necessary for human survival.

 

Precolonial Perceptions of the LGBTQ+ Community among Uganda’s Tribes


Uganda’s population is made of different tribes with varying beliefs and practices that may be referred to as cultures. These are largely unwritten but mostly transmitted through oral traditions.  Tensions between cultures and religion and the LGBTQ+ community in Uganda can be traced back to before the establishment of Uganda as a British Protectorate in 1894. When King Mwanga of Buganda ascended to the throne in 1884, he inherited a kingdom that was sharply polarized between Catholicism and Protestantism (Anglican/the Church of England as we know it today).[1] Kersten Cheney notes that in 1886, Mwanga II executed 45 of his male subjects, commonly known as the Christian martyrs, for resisting his homosexual advances, because their newly adopted religion of Catholicism held that homosexuality was an abomination.[2]  Historian Jack Driberg notes the existence of same-sex social and sexual relationships among pastoral pre-colonial tribes in Uganda, including the Langi, Iteso, Bahima, and the Banyoro.[3]  Other scholars suggest that  the LGBTQ+ community in pre-colonial Uganda was frowned on, identified by derogatory names such as "mudoko daka"(alternative gender status) by the Langi and Ateso "Kuchu”(unnatural), and they were not of a high or equal social status like heterosexual persons.[4] However, Murray Stephen argues that among the Langi tribe, known LGBTQ+ persons were free to marry.[5]According to Mpagi, the Baganda, Luo, and Bagisu have always protected the minorities within their tribes, including persons from the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, Mpagi claims that the Baganda desist from speaking against their LGBTQ+ community.[6]Same- sex relationships are commonly referred to in Luganda (Baganda’s language) as “okulya ebisiyiga”. It has been argued that this term was coined after religion was introduced in Uganda.[7] It is not clear if the term was used in a derogatory sense or to hide same-sex relations from the disapproving British. Some historians report that same-sex relationships were introduced in Uganda by Arab slave traders.[8] While others claim that it was Europeans or another African group.[9]  Whatever the case may be, it is clear that same sex relationships existed among different tribes in pre-colonial Uganda, though attitudes towards LGBTQ+ individuals varied.


Setting The Tone for Anti Homosexuality Laws


European words for homosexuality were derived from mythical originators and precedents— sodomy from Sodom, catamite from Ganymede; lesbian from Lesbos.[10]  Earlier traces of policy rejection of  same- sex relationships in colonial Uganda indicate that such relations were grouped among other unchristian behaviors that include adultery, drunkenness, and thieving.[11]  It is therefore not surprising that after the British declared Uganda a British Protectorate in 1894, they sought to create a country founded on ‘Christian purity’ when they enacted the Penal Code Act in 1950. This law criminalized homosexuality, insulting religion (blasphemy), abortion, and trading sex (prostitution), to mention some of the unchristian values. This law symbolizes the first translation of stigma and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community that existed in some tribes into a national culture and policy. Christianity, as well as other religions, gave the many tribes common values that are commonly referred to as the Ugandan culture.


The Penal Code Act reinforced stigma and discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community that existed in some pre-colonial tribes and further strengthened the culture that stigmatizes and discriminates against persons in same-sex relationships. The Penal Code Act has been amended 5 times in 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010, and most recently in 2024, but legislators have not repealed its provisions aimed at sustaining Christianity, indicating an entrenched policy founded on Christian values.[12]


Nexus Between Culture and Religion and Their Impact on Anti-Homosexuality Laws in Modern Uganda 


In 1995, the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (the Constitution) was enacted to usher in new democratic and human rights dispensations. During the debates on adopting the Constitution, only one member of the Constituent Assembly indicated that his constituents had proposed the protection of sexual orientation from discrimination in the Constitution.[13] In 2005, Article 31 of the Constitution was amended to only provide legal recognition for heterosexual marriages.[14]The Constitution also prohibits discrimination on  grounds of sex, race, color, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.[15] It further requires the State to take affirmative action in favor of groups marginalized on the basis of gender, age, disability, or any other reason created by history, tradition, or custom, for the purpose of redressing imbalances[16]. These provisions reflect the continuing national policy and culture that outlaw, stigmatize, and discriminate against individuals in same-sex relationships.


In 2014, in yet another attempt at reinforcing national culture and policy against same-sex relationships, the Parliament of Uganda enacted the Anti Homosexuality Act, 2014 (AHA,2014). David Bahati, when introducing AHA 2014 in Parliament, claimed that“Homosexuality is against Uganda’s culture”.[17] Among its provisions, this law criminalized same-sex relations, prescribed a punishment of life imprisonment for LGBTQ+ persons, and banned funding aimed at promoting LGBTQ+ activities. Suspected LGBTQ+ individuals were evicted from their homes by their landlords, and a tabloid newspaper published a list of suspected homosexuals in the aftermath of this law being passed.[18]  In March 2014, the Court declared the law null and void,[19]  finding that the number of Members of Parliament that passed the law was insufficient. 


The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, is a founding member of the Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon). The church is described as a global movement that aims to bring together authentic Anglicans for the purposes of guarding God’s gospel, growing orthodox leaders, and generating missional resources for the glory of God.[20]


The third Gafcon conference was held in Jerusalem in June 2018. This event brought together one of the largest global Anglican gatherings, of 1,950 representatives from 50 countries. A letter to the Churches was issued as the Conference statement.[21] This letter, conceived as a policy statement, sums up the aspirations of the global Anglican community. It has three main sections: ‘Proclaiming God’s Gospel’, ‘Reforming God’s Church’, and ‘Reaching Out to the God’s World’. A paragraph under ‘Proclaiming God’s Gospel’ states:


“Faithful proclamation of this gospel is under attack from without and within, as it has been from apostolic times (Acts 20:28-30). External attacks include superstitious practices of sacrifices and libations that deny the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. Some religions deny the unique person and work of Christ on the cross, and others are innately syncretistic.” [22]

In a specific attack on same-sex relationships, the letter disparages that:

”Secularism seeks to exclude God from all public discourse and to dismantle the Christian heritage of many nations. This has been most obvious in the redefinition of what it means to be human, especially in the areas of gender, sexuality, and marriage.

The letter also denounces other issues that are considered unchristian, and it calls for repentance:


“The devaluing of the human person through the advocacy of abortion and euthanasia is also an assault upon human life uniquely created in the image of God. Militant forms of religion and secularism are hostile to the preaching of Christ and persecute his people. Internally, the ‘prosperity gospel’ and theological revisionism both seek in different ways to recast God’s gospel to accommodate the surrounding culture, resulting in a seductive syncretism that denies the uniqueness of Christ, the seriousness of sin, the need for repentance, and the final authority of the Bible. Tragically, there has been a failure of leadership in our churches to address these threats to the gospel of God. We repent of our failure to take seriously the words of the apostle Paul: ‘Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them’ (Acts 20:28-30). We dedicate ourselves afresh to proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations, working together to guard the gospel entrusted to us by our Lord and his apostles.”[23]

In February 2023, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) vowed to do everything possible to return the defunct AHA 2014 to Parliament as one of the measures to tackle homosexuality in schools.[24]  In a statement that was signed by Archbishop Kaziimba Mugalu (Anglican), Sheikh Shaban Ramadan Mubajje ( Mufti of Uganda),  Bishop Joseph Antony Zziwa (Roman Catholic), Pastor Joseph Serwadda (Victory Centre Churches), Bishop Joshua Lwere (National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches)  and Pastor Moses Ndimukika (Seventh-day church), these religious leaders pledged to support the rehabilitation of those who have already engaged in homosexual acts, and urged Ugandans to resist the temptation to engage in such acts, protect African values, and the sanctity of the family institution. The religious leaders preached that same-sex relationships are “human weaknesses” that should be addressed at a personal level through repentance. They referenced teachings from the holy books, including The Bible, Levictus 18;22:


“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”  The Quran Chapter 7, verses 80 and 81: “And remember when Lot scolded the men of his people, saying, do you commit a shameful deed (homosexuality) that no man has ever done before? You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors.”

In April 2023, following the fourth conference in Kigali, Rwanda, Gafcon issued another policy statement[25] which declared that:


"Public statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the Church of England in support of same-sex blessings are a betrayal of their ordination and consecration vows to banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture. These statements are also a repudiation of Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which declared that ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture,’ and advised against the ‘legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions. This occurred despite the Archbishop of Canterbury having affirmed that ‘the validity of the resolution passed at the Lambeth Conference 1998, I.10 is not in doubt and that the whole resolution is still in existence. The 2022 Lambeth Conference demonstrated the deep divisions in the Anglican Communion as many bishops chose not to attend, and some of those who did withdrew from sharing at the Lord’s table.”

In May 2023, the new Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 (AHA, 2023) was enacted with similar provisions and consequences to the LGBTQ+ community like the AHA, 2014. This development came in the aftermath of a statement from the Church of Uganda in April 2023 in which its leadership stated that its plans to break away from the Church of England, following Canterbury’s decision to bless same-sex marriages as well as to appoint a gay clergy.[26] When introducing the draft AHA 2023 in Parliament, the Speaker Rt. Hon. Anita Among called on parliamentarians to protect the children of Uganda against the vice of homosexuality and urged them to protect Uganda’s culture.[27]  In a case brought by allies of the LGBTQ+ community to nullify the AHA 2023, the court held that AHA 2023 did not contravene fundamental rights to equality, such as freedom from discrimination, right to life, respect for human dignity, protection from inhuman treatment, right to privacy of person and home, and freedom of conscience, expression, and association. However, the  court nullified and struck down provisions of AHA, 2023 that violated the right to health, adequate standards of living, privacy, and freedom of religion.[28] The court opined that the legislature overwhelmingly enacted the law because it captures societal sentiments on the subject of homosexuality.[29] It further declared that the rejection of same-sex marriages as well as the provisions in the Constitution that do not protect the LGBTQ+ community against discrimination, reflect Uganda’s social norms and values.[30]


After the law was passed, authorities raided and suspended nongovernmental organizations, conducted arbitrary arrests and detentions, engaged in entrapment via social media and dating apps, and extorted money from LGBTQ+ people in exchange for releasing them from police custody.[31] Opposition lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa, who proposed AHA 2023, dismissed reports of human rights violations and harassment as distortions and fabrications.[32]


On 14 September, 2025, Martin Ssempa, the self-described Pastor of Makerere Community Church, with 30 years of experience in fighting HIV/AIDS[33], an X following of 44.2 k, and one of the most influential clergy in Uganda, took to his X handle to claim that the world is at the end of civilization because of the imposition of radical trans ideology that claims that a person born a male can claim to be a female and vice versa.[34] Sempa also said that anyone who tells the LGBTQ+ community “the truth” is accused of dehumanizing them. He asserted that homosexuality is a “perversion of the highest order,” “inherently unnatural”, ridden with diseases, and “ungodly”. He further claimed that same-sex relations are a human vice and not a human right. He reported that he has been demonized for more than 20 years because of his fight against homosexuality and that he and similarly minded persons have faced threats to their lives. He called on the law to restrain homosexual conduct, referencing the Bible as the basis of his call.  It is important to note that Sempa is a key proponent of AHA 2023[35] , supporting keeping the law in Uganda’s law books.


On 3 October 2025, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Kaziimba Mugalu, issued a policy statement to Christians of the Church of Uganda.[36] In this statement, he expressed his profound sadness following the appointment of the Rt Revd. Dame Sarah Mullaly, Bishop of London, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Kaziimba Mugalu wrote that he was troubled by Mullaly’s known support for positions on sexuality and same-sex marriage that deviate from the historic teachings of the Anglican faith. He described the appointment as deepening the tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion, a divide that began in 2003 with the consecration of a divorced father of two living in a same-sex relationship. The Archbishop reaffirmed the Church of Uganda’s commitment to Biblical faith and the authority of Scripture. Despite his disappointment, he expressed optimism about the continued vitality of the gospel-centered mission within the Anglican tradition.


It should be noted that Uganda’s population of 45 million is dominated by Christians (81.7%). Roman Catholics account for 16.6 million, Anglicans/Church of Uganda for 13.3 million, and Pentecostal/Evangelicals for 6.5 million. Religious affiliation remains a central aspect of Uganda’s population, with only 85,559 persons identifying as having no religion.[37] Thus, religion plays a major role in influencing attitudes as well as policy.


Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), the constitutional body charged with protecting and promoting human rights and advising the government, issued a bold statement on 26 September 2025, calling on the government to decriminalize homosexuality, noting that it is a victimless crime.[38] According to the UHRC Chairperson Mariam Wangandya:


“Criminalizing such acts often results in unjust and disproportionate punishment, especially for vulnerable groups in our society.”

Uganda - the African Extreme in Rejecting the LGBTQ+ Community


Uganda ranks last in tolerance of people in same-sex relationships  among the 37 African countries surveyed in 2021/2022.[39]Uganda is among 64 countries in the world where same-sex conduct is illegal.[40] In Africa, more than half of all countries have LGBTQ+ discriminatory laws.[41] Similar to Uganda, the Ghanaian Supreme Court upheld an anti-homosexuality law and dismissed a challenge to a proposed severe similar law because it had not yet been signed by the President.[42] The proposed new law aims to criminalize lesbian relationships for the first time. In Namibia, the High Court ruled that colonial-era sodomy laws were unconstitutional, striking all references to sodomy in several laws.[43] Proponents of criminalizing homosexuality often argue that it goes against African culture or tradition. Cabo Verde, South Africa, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Mozambique are reported to be the most tolerant countries in Africa.[44] The tide towards decriminalizing same sex relations is also growing: South Africa (in 1998), Cabo Verde (2004), Lesotho (2012), São Tomé and Príncipe (2012), Mozambique (2015), the Seychelles (2016), Botswana (2019), and Angola (2019).[45]In South Africa, President Ramaphosa signed a hate speech and crimes law that had been passed by parliament in 2023. The law includes protections for LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV. Interestingly, countries with tolerant majorities have decriminalized homosexuality. This may reflect policy reforms responding to public opinion,[46]or public opinion responding to policy reforms, or both.


Conclusion


There is clear historical evidence that LGBTQ+ persons existed in precolonial Uganda. It is therefore not accurate to claim that homosexuality is a Western export. Precolonial Uganda communities both accepted and rejected LGBTQ+ persons. However, religion and culture have been cited by policymakers as the basis of national policies that stigmatize and discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons. The reality is that Uganda does not have a common culture. What is commonly referred to as “Ugandan” culture is a composite of different tribes, customs, and peoples bound together by a shared colonial and pre-colonial history. Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws are shaped in part by religious frameworks that define acceptable forms of sexuality. These claims largely rely on the idea that same-sex relationships do not contribute to population growth and that they violate divinely ordained portrayals of gender and sexuality.



 

Glossary



Footnotes/References


[1] Kirsten Cheney, ‘Locating Neocolonialism, Tradition and Human Rights in Uganda’s Gay Death Penalty’, African Studies Review, Vol.55, No.2, (2012).

[2] Ibid.

[3]  Nancy Nicole, Adrian Jukko, Richard Lusimbo, et al in ‘Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights: (Neo)colonialism’, University of London Press, 2018.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Stephen Murray & Will Roscoe, ‘Boy Wives and Female Husbands’, Studies in African Homosexuality,1998.

[6] Derrick Mpagi, ‘Decolonizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in indigenous African communities: A case of Uganda’, Decolonial Blog Series,2024.

[8] Apolo Kagwa, ‘The customs of the Baganda’ Open Library, 1934.

[9] Non-lndo-European and non-Semitic terms for homosexual roles reported early in the history of European contact make it unlikely that homosexual behavior was unknown before either Arab or European contact.

[10] Stephen Murray & Will Roscoe, ‘Boy Wives and Female Husbands’, Studies in African Homosexuality,1998

[13] Republic of Uganda, ‘The Report of the Uganda Constitution Commission: Analysis and Recommendations’ Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs 1992.

[15] Art.21 of the Constitution.

[16] Ibid, Art.32.

[18]  Gay Rights: Uganda ‘African Research Bulletin: Political’, Social and Cultural Series,51 (3) April, 2014.

[19] Constitutional Petition No8 of 2014.Judgement in the case Against the Anti Homosexuality Act 2014.pdf

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Dorothy Nagitta & Peter Sserugo ‘Religious leaders to return anti-gay Bill to Parliament’ Monitor, 16 February 2023.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Parliamentary Debate (Hansard), 9 March 2023.

[28] Consolidated Constitutional Petitions No. 14. 15. 16 & 85 of 2023.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Human Rights ‘Watch, they are Putting Our live at Risk: How Uganda’s Anti LGBTQ+ Climate Unleashes Abuse’, 2025.

[32]  CNN “Uganda passed one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws. LGBTQ people describe living as ‘hell”, 29 June 2023.

[35] Consolidated Constitutional Petitions No. 14. 15. 16 & 85 of 2023.

[37] Government of Uganda, ‘National Population and Housing Census 2024 Final Report Volume 1’, 2024.

[39] Makanga Ronald Kakumba, ‘Uganda a continental extreme in rejection of people in same-sex relationships’, Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 639, 2023.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Ibid.

[43] Ibid.

[44] Makanga Ronald Kakumba, ‘Uganda a continental extreme in rejection of people in same-sex relationships’, Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 639, 2023.

[45] Ibid.

[46] Rhonda Gibson and Bob Hester, “Effects of Sources in Coverage of Same-Sex Marriage”, Sage Journals, 2007.

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