World
Stolen document highlights homophobia in Uganda
‘If you don’t do something about your gay kid, he’ll end up in a grave with his guts hanging out’
Ugandan LGBT rights advocate Frank Mugisha blames American evangelicals for spreading homophobia in east Africa. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
By THOM SENZEE
There is a surprising portrait in Uganda’s parliament building. It’s an oil-painted Idi Amin sporting a toothy smile and full military regalia. Amin poses while engaging in his trademark low-down, dual-fisted version of a fist pump.
Normally, it would be no surprise for a tourist to encounter a painting of a country’s former president inside the house of its legislature. But Amin was no ordinary president. He was a brutal dictator. He was allegedly a cannibal who literally ate his opponents and detractors for breakfast. The evidence for Amin’s cannibalism were the corpses of political foes found dangling by their Achilles tendons, after he was deposed, from meat hooks inside of a walk-in refrigerator at his compound.
Earlier this year a British journalist—let’s call him Ian Smith because, as you’ll see, disclosing his identity might preclude him from ever visiting Uganda again—went to the Chamber of Parliament in Kampala and took photos of some of the building’s more interesting features. The place was a ghost town at the time thanks to a special event where members of parliament were then gathered.
“That made it easy for me to steal the document,” recalls Smith.
The document he stole is titled: “Protect our young people from homosexuality: Debate and pass the anti-homosexuality bill now!”
Smith took the document from the Press Office at Parliament when the secretary wasn’t looking. It contains morbid images, such as one that may be posed or altered to depict a human figure lying on a bed with his or her intestines literally extruding onto a bed from his or her rectum.
The photo purports to be of a young man named Turyamureeba Wycliffe, who supposedly died from complications of “fisting” and tuberculosis (supposedly also brought on as a result of his homosexuality).
Mercifully and perhaps manipulatively, the document also includes a photo of Wycliffe in far happier and healthier days sitting in a decidedly effeminate posture. The juxtaposed imagery more subtly drives home the same point the brief hammers out in writing as, “Attention Ugandan MPs and parents: If you don’t do something about your gay (or gay-acting) kid, he’ll end up in a grave with his guts hanging out, just like this one did in Katungu Village.“
Uganda’s relatively newfound hatred for homosexuality is directly traceable to American missionaries who penetrated the country’s mindset by providing assistance in the fight against the east African AIDS epidemic.
A document obtained by the Blade was stolen from the Uganda Parliament’s pressroom and contains shocking claims about homosexuality. (Photo courtesy Thom Senzee)
Uganda, which not so long ago seemed equal to Kenya and South Africa as a symbol of hope that liberal democracies could flourish on the African continent, been indoctrinated into fervent homophobia by American evangelical diehards.
Their efforts have not only won followers in east Africa. Some argue the work of rightwing religious organizations with ties to people like former governors and Fox News celebrities, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, has created a murderous environment for LGBT Ugandans.
David Kato, a Ugandan LGBT rights activist, was beaten to death after winning a lawsuit against a Ugandan magazine called “Rolling Stone” (no connection to the American publication of the same name) for publishing a list of names and photographs of 100 LGBT-rights leaders, calling for their execution. The article was a welcomed “calling out of perpetrators” for anti-homosexuality groups in Uganda, such as the Coalition for the Advancement of Moral Values (CAMOVA), which claims authorship of the aforementioned document, and the Family Life Network. While there is no proof that Kato’s death was connected to the magazine article, the New York Times reported that Kato “knew he was a marked man.”
However, Kato’s surviving friend, the officer of a group called Sexual Minorities-Uganda (SMUG), Frank Mugisha, makes no bones about American evangelicals’ role in creating a terrorized environment for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in Uganda.
“Most of the propaganda can be traced to U.S evangelists,” he told the Washington Blade. “They have been the most visible in Uganda.”
But it wasn’t always this way, according to Mugisha, who in 2011 received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights.
“The religious propaganda is traced back from the late ‘90s—especially in Uganda where missionaries came in to do HIV/AIDS work,” he said. “But they became more visible in 2000.”
Mugisha said the first time he saw the CAMOVA brief was when the Blade supplied it to him via email. He found it disgusting, but not surprising. In fact, he says, Uganda’s powerful, American-connected religious right has a firm grip on the ears of members of parliament.
“Our members of parliament go to church a lot. They interact with our church leaders. Politics in Uganda are centered around the church. So yes, the politicians unfortunately believe all these things.”
For journalist Ian Smith, the CAMOVA brief begged to be snatched for exposure in the media.
“I didn’t feel disgusted when I saw it sitting there in the press room,” Smith recalls. “I genuinely thought it was comical. Then, of course, you think more deeply into it and you realize, these people really believe this absurd rubbish.”
Multiple attempts to obtain comment about the document via the email address noted as contact information for the document’s author(s) yielded no response. Attempts to obtain reactions to the document from members of the Ugandan Parliament were also unsuccessful. According to Mugisha, there is little support for LGBT people among Uganda’s parliamentarians. But, he says, there is some.
“Yes there is,” he said. “But it’s very minimal; and most of the members of parliament are not comfortable giving us support in public. If they do support us they would rather it remains quiet.”
That means his and his colleagues’ work is lonely and dangerous. Most support comes from outside the country—from Americans and Europeans. What little support Sexual Minorities-Uganda gets from allies inside the country comes cloaked in secrecy.
“We do advocacy every day,” he says. “It happens at different levels. I spend half of my time in Uganda in meetings with different political leaders at all levels—from local leaders to national leaders. I lobby government, non-government organizations and civil society, trying to encourage them to work with SMUG.”
LGBT-rights advocates in Uganda and outside of the country blame the most recent, most radical and most violent anti-LGBT propaganda and homophobic activity in east Africa on a seminar organized by Ugandan Stephen Langa.
According to the New York Times, in 2009, Langa invited three prominent American evangelical Christian ministers to speak to Ugandan parents about the supposed threat of recruitment of their children by leaders of the so-called homosexual agenda for all kinds of terrible purposes.
At least one of the three was associated with discredited and recently shuttered “conversion-therapy” purveyor, Exodus International.
Another of the American evangelists blamed for setting in motion Uganda’s anti-gay hysteria with the 2009 seminar, entitled “Exposing the Homosexuals’ Agenda,” is Scott Lively.
Lively is author of a “gay-proofing” book for parents who fear having a gay child, which has been panned by mainstream psychology practitioners as “psychobabble” and “quackery.”
Mugisha says LGBT people in his country still live in constant fear and danger as a result of the seminar held more than four years ago.
“What I can say is that the Family Life Network and the anti-gay groups in Uganda have spread so much propaganda, which in turn has caused fear within the Uganda people,” he said. “This fear has brought hatred toward known and openly gay persons in Uganda, hence increasing the homophobia and hate crimes.”
The good news is that the anti-homosexuality bill, which the CAMOVA brief implored the Ugandan Parliament to pass last year, has not passed. If it had passed in its original form, homosexuality would have been punishable by death (the law was later rewritten to specify life in prison as the penalty for some convictions of homosexuality).
Further good news, according to Ian Smith, is the possibility that even the document presented to MPs by the homophobic Coalition for the Advancement of Moral Values in December 2012 may itself represent a silver lining of sorts.
“You would have thought all of their work of sewing hate was well done by now,” says Smith. “You wouldn’t think they would feel the need to go to such lengths as creating and passing about such a load of rubbish as this document.”
Perhaps, he says, the document in question is a sign of a cracking at the seams of the anti-homosexuality lobby in Uganda.
“Clearly there’s a feeling among them that they have not succeeded in convincing people that gay people are bad for Uganda.”
Was there ever a time in east Africa when LGBT people could live without fear of harassment, beatings and murder? According to Mugisha, there were indeed far better times.
“I would say all the way back before the British came and colonized us,” Mugisha said. “LGBT people were free. But more recently, before the coming of the evangelicals—especially the U.S. evangelicals.”
Recent events notwithstanding, Mugisha is hopeful about Uganda’s future.
“With the dialogue now and people talking about gay rights, we hope that things will change,” he said.
Even without passage of the anti-homosexuality law, homosexual acts are still against the law in Uganda, though Mugisha remains optimistic that change is coming.
“I think that there is a possibility that homosexuality will be decriminalized soon,” said Mugisha. “And the sodomy laws may be removed.”
Until then, Mugisha and myriad others in Uganda and across east Africa simply focus on surviving while working for change.
“SMUG can exist,” he said. “We are doing nothing illegal [and] we can exist in Uganda as an association. But we have to be careful. As an openly gay man, I can exist. But also, I have to be careful and take precautions some times.”
CAMOVA Anti-homosexuality Brief Uganda – Washington Blade exclusive
India
Opposition from religious groups prompts Indian Pride group to cancel annual parade
Event was to have taken place in Amritsar on April 27
Pride Amritsar, a student-led organization in the Indian state of Punjab, earlier this month announced the cancellation of its Pride parade that was scheduled to take place on April 27, citing opposition from certain religious groups.
The event, planned for the Rose Garden in Amritsar, a city revered as a spiritual center of Sikhism, had faced mounting resistance from Sikh religious organizations, including the Nihang Singh faction and the Akal Takht, the faith’s highest temporal authority. These groups labeled the parade as “unnatural” and urged local authorities to deny permission, citing its potential to disrupt the city’s religious sanctity.
In an Instagram post on April 6, Pride Amritsar organizers Ridham Chadha and Ramit Seth elaborated on its mission and the reasons for the cancellation.
“Since 2019, we have organized peaceful parades and celebrations in Amritsar to connect and uplift the LGBTQIA+ community, with a particular focus on transgender individuals and their rights,” their statement read.
Chadha and Seth highlighted Pride Amritsar efforts in providing guidance, counseling, and job opportunities, which have been met with positive responses. However, due to opposition this year, Pride Amritsar announced the cancellation of the 2025 parade.
“We have no intention of harming the sentiments of any religious or political groups,” the statement read. “The safety of our members is our top priority, and we will take all necessary measures to ensure their protection.”
Chadha and Seth spoke with the Washington Blade about their decision to cancel the parade.
They explained that resistance came from both religious and political groups who labeled the parade and its values as anti-Sikh and contrary to Punjabi and Indian cultural norms. Critics specifically objected to the event’s location in Amritsar, a city regarded as a sacred center of Sikhism, arguing that the parade would disrupt its spiritual purity.
Chadha and Seth stressed Pride Amritsar lacks political, financial, or legal support. Composed of students and young professionals, the group organizes the parade biennially, dedicating personal time to advocate for the LGBTQ community.
“We do it independently, crowdfund the parade and cover the rest with our pockets,” said Seth and Chadha.
When asked by the Blade why Pride Amritsar did not approach the High Court or local authorities to protect the parade, despite the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling that decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations, Chadha and Seth cited significant barriers.
“Pursuing legal action in India requires substantial resources, both financial and temporal,” they explained.
Chadha and Seth also noted that such action could lead to public shaming and unwanted publicity for participants, potentially harming their careers in Amritsar. They therefore chose not to pursue legal recourse.
Chadha and Seth said Pride Amritsar does not have any plans to hold alternative events.
“We are still exploring options, but we are likely not holding any events this year,” they said, citing significant harassment that organizers faced and the need for time to plan how to best serve the local LGBTQ community moving forward.
“Our evaluation of what the biggest challenge is has changed after this year,” said Chadha and Seth to the Washington Blade. “The biggest challenge, by far, seems to be education. We need to educate the community about what the community is, does, and why it exists. Why we do parades. Why we dance. Why calling someone ‘chakka’ is harmful. How we actually fit into religion and fall within the guidelines.”
Chadha and Seth said organizing the parade in Amritsar since 2019 has been an uplifting experience, despite continued opposition.
“The moment you join the parade, chant a slogan, or sing a song, it’s transformative,” they said. “Fear vanishes, and a sense of freedom takes over.”
The cancellation of the 2025 Amritsar Pride Parade has sparked concerns among activists in Punjab, as the Indian Express reported.
The Punjab LGBT Alliance and other groups expressed concern that the decision to cancel the parade may strengthen opposition to future LGBTQ-specific events.
Australia
Australian LGBTQ rights group issues US travel advisory
Equality Australia warns transgender, nonbinary people of ‘serious risks’
An LGBTQ rights group in Australia has issued a travel advisory for transgender and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
Equality Australia on April 14 posted the advisory to its website that states the U.S. government’s policy on visas and Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA “appears to be” the following:
• To use the term “biological sex”
• To only use the gender marker recorded at a person’s birth, even if this differs from their gender
• That valid foreign passports with an ‘X’ gender marker and a valid visa (if needed) may continue to be admitted, however this is contingent upon satisfying inspection of their admissibility by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry
• That any previously issued, valid visa may remain current until its expiration date and the visa holder does not need to apply for a new visa with an amended gender marker until the current visa expires (it is unclear whether this applies to ESTAs)
• That new visas will only be issued under the gender marker recorded for the applicant at birth (it is unclear whether this applies to ESTA applications, although only ‘M’ and ‘F’ gender marker options are available for ESTA applications)
• That if consular officers assessing visa applications become aware an application does not contain the gender marker recorded at the applicant’s birth, they should assess additional evidence (such as previous travel records, although the scope is unclear), and/or conduct interviews and
• That where individuals are not using the gender marker recorded at their birth, consular officers should consider classifying the application as procuring a visa through material misrepresentation or fraud, which results in a lifetime bar from the U.S.
President Donald Trump shortly after he took office on Jan. 20 issued an executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in response to directive ordered State Department personnel to “suspend any application requesting an ‘X’ sex marker and do not take any further action pending additional guidance from the department.” A federal judge in Boston on April 18 issued a temporary injunction against the Trump-Vance administration’s directive.
Equality Australia says its advisory is “relevant if you are traveling to the U.S.” and fall under the following criteria:
• Hold a passport with a gender ‘X’ marker
• Have identity documents with gender markers different to those assigned to you at birth, or where other relevant details (such as your name) have been changed
• Have gender markers in your identity documents that do not match your gender expression
• Have a track record of LGBTIQ+ activism or other political activity.
“Travel to the U.S. carries serious risks that should be considered before planning any travel, particularly if you fall under one of the above categories,” reads the advisory.
Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
WorldPride is scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8.
InterPride, the organization that coordinates WorldPride events, on March 12 issued its own travel advisory for trans and nonbinary people who want to travel to the U.S. Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organizations, in February announced its members will not attend WorldPride and any other event in the U.S. because of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies.
Pope Francis died on Monday at his official residence at the Vatican. He was 88.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said Francis passed away at Casa Santa Marta at 7:35 a.m. local time (1:35 a.m. ET.)
“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church,” said Farrell. “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the one and triune God.”
Francis, a Jesuit who was previously known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents in 1936. He became archbishop of the Argentine capital in 1998.
Pope John Paul II in 2001 appointed him cardinal. The College of Cardinals in 2013 elected Francis to succeed Pope Benedict XVI after he resigned.
Francis vehemently opposed Argentina’s marriage equality law that then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed in 2010. Francis as pope backed civil unions for gays and lesbians and in 2023 said priests can bless same-sex couples.
Francis in 2023 said laws that criminalize homosexuality are “unjust.” He appointed Robert McElroy, an LGBTQ-friendly cardinal from San Diego, as the new archbishop of Washington.
The pontiff in 2015 met with a group of gay, transgender, and HIV-positive prisoners in the Italian city of Naples. A Vatican charity in 2020 gave money to a group of trans sex workers in Italy who were struggling to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Francis last October met with a group of trans and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ allies at the Vatican. GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis and Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean man who is a clergy sex abuse survivor, are among those who also met with Francis during his papacy.
Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity, however, did not change.
“From the early months of his papacy when he uttered the now-iconic ‘Who am I to judge?’ in response to a question about accepting gay priests, through numerous affirming pastoral messages to individual LGBTQ+ people, to his support for civil unions, and his condemnation of criminalization laws, Pope Francis has changed the church irreversibly by allowing people to see how their Catholic faith requires acceptance and equality,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Mount Rainier, Md., based LGBTQ Catholic advocacy organization, in a statement.
DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke met Francis in 2023.
The group in a statement acknowledged the pontiff’s “legacy on LGBTQ+ issues is complicated,” noting “even with the recognition of so many positive words and actions, church teachings and even some recent Vatican documents remain problematic.” DignityUSA President Meli Barber nevertheless praised Francis.
“We also recognize that Pope Francis has raised awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in our church in truly unprecedented ways,” said Barber. “He spoke about us using our own terms and made a point of being seen meeting with LGBTQ+ people frequently. This sent a message of recognition and inclusion we never experienced from the Vatican before.”
Pope’s legacy is ‘mixed’
Activists in Argentina and around the world also mourned Francis.
“We mourn his death and embrace the people who are suffering today because of his passing,” LGBT Federation of Argentina President María Rachid told the Washington Blade.
Dindi Tan, national president of LGBT Pilipinas in the Philippines, on her Facebook page wrote Francis “was unafraid to challenge age-old dogmas and to ‘rattle’ the cage.” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the Puerto Rico LGBTQ+ Federation, said Francis was an “ally of equity, humanity and dignity of LGBTQ+ people, not only during his pontificate, but throughout his life.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in a statement acknowledged Francis’s “more compassionate tone towards sexual minorities” that includes blessings for same-sex couples. Tatchell, nevertheless, pointed out the Vatican under Francis’s papacy continued to oppose marriage equality and trans rights.
“The Catholic Church remains a force for discrimination and suffering,” said Tatchell. “Under his leadership, the Vatican continued to oppose same-sex marriage and trans rights. Catholic bishops lobbied against the decriminalization of homosexuality in many parts of the world. The Vatican still upholds the homophobic edicts of the Catechism, which denounces the sexual expression of same-sex love as a ‘grave depravity’ and ‘intrinsically disordered.’ Francis’s legacy is, therefore, a mixed one — offering some progress but leaving deep-rooted inequalities largely intact.”
Vance met with Francis on Easter Sunday
Francis earlier this year spent more than a month in a Rome hospital after he developed double pneumonia.
He met with Vice President JD Vance at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, hours before his death.
The pope had previously criticized the Trump-Vance administration over its immigration policies.
“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis,” said Vance on X after the Vatican announced Francis’s death. “My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.”
I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.
I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 21, 2025
Argentine President Javier Milei, who previously criticized Francis, mourned him in a statement he posted to X. Milei also announced Argentina will observe seven days of mourning.
“It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace,” said Milei. “Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honor for me.”
“As president, as an Argentine, and, fundamentally, as a man of faith, I bid farewell to the Holy Father and stand with all of us who meet today with this sad news,” he added.
ADIÓS
Con profundo dolor me entero esta triste mañana que el Papa Francisco, Jorge Bergoglio, falleció hoy y ya se encuentra descansando en paz. A pesar de diferencias que hoy resultan menores, haber podido conocerlo en su bondad y sabiduría fue un verdadero honor para mí.… pic.twitter.com/3dPPFoNWBr— Javier Milei (@JMilei) April 21, 2025
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