“We become legal again!” said LGBT activist Frank Mugisha. But Ugandan LGBT activists are bracing for a violent backlash to the decision.
Anti-LGBT activist Martin Ssempa (right) in Constitutional Court on July 30, with his son (center).
ISAAC KASAMANI/AFP / Getty Images
Uganda's Constitutional Court struck down the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act on Friday, giving new hope to the country's embattled LGBT people and human rights activists.
In the five months since Uganda adopted the law, which imposes a sentence of up to life in prison for homosexuality and criminalizes advocating LGBT rights, LGBT Ugandans have lived under the constant threat of arrest or mob violence. The court's decision paves the way for organizations to again begin operating openly and to allow LGBT people to resume normal lives. But that change will come slowly — homosexuality remains a crime in Uganda under a provision of the penal code on the books before the Anti-Homosexuality Act was passed last December, and there is a chance of a surge in anti-LGBT violence in reaction to today's ruling.
The decision could also significantly ease international pressure on President Yoweri Museveni, who has been under pressure from the United States, the World Bank, and other important donors to get rid of the law or at least substantially weaken it through enforcement.
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