Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa touched on a controversial subject in the Country, as he directed the government to probe the issue of pro-LGBTQ activism targeted at schools and “save the children”.
His comments came after a mother said in a video that her son had been sexually assaulted by a teacher at one of the country’s most prestigious schools.
House Speaker Anita Among also ordered Parliament’s Education Committee to probe schools suspected of “promoting” LGBT rights.
The country’s First Lady and Secretary of Education Janet Museveni and the Anglican Church, which oversees many of the schools, have formed teams to investigate the matter.
The Uganda Sexual Minorities Organization (SMUG), a local NGO, has been accused of promoting homosexuality in schools. A boy recently posted a video detailing how he was “enlisted” with promises of between $1,000 and $1,500 to record gay porn videos in an upscale residential and commercial suburb of Kampala.
Doctor Frank Mugisha, President of SMUG, dismissed the young man’s allegations, saying: “You can’t recruit anyone into the LGBT movement in Uganda. That boy lied.”
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The Interior Ministry’s NGO office, which is tasked with regulating NGO activities in the country, banned SMUG in August last year on the grounds that it had not been registered with the Uganda Bureau of Registration Services. But dr Mugisha says his registration was blocked in 2012 by civil registry officials who rejected the name.
The anti-homosexuality law passed by Uganda’s ninth parliament on December 20, 2013, which then-parliament speaker Rebecca Kadaga described as the best Christmas present for Ugandans, was struck down by the country’s constitutional court just months after Yoweri took office. Museveni signed in February 2014.
The court ruled that the law was passed without a quorum and was therefore unlawful.
Despite the court decision, homosexuality remains illegal in the country under Section 145 of the Criminal Code, Chapter 120, introduced by British colonialists in June 1950. The law prohibits any unnatural sexual act and carries life imprisonment if convicted.
But dr Mugisha says they are working with government agencies, including the police and the Ministry of Health, to make it easier for their members to access health services.
