Where are today’s leaders in the global travel and tourism industry in trying to prevent a human and economic disaster for Uganda’s vibrant travel and tourism industry? It appears only the World Tourism Network has been speaking out so far.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights asked Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill passed by the Uganda parliament today.
UN Volker Türk called the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 “draconian,” saying it would have negative repercussions on society and violate the nation’s constitution.
The United States added to international outrage over a hardline bill passed by Ugandan lawmakers that criminalize simply identifying as LGBTQ+, prescribes a life sentence for convicted homosexuals, and a death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
If signed into law by the President, it will render lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are. It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.
Uganda’s parliament just passed a mostly unchanged version of one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills after President Yoweri Museveni asked that specific provisions from the original legislation be toned down.
The first version of this bill passed in March, when the president asked for some changes.
President Museveni returned the bill to parliament last month, asking lawmakers to remove the duty to report and to introduce a provision to facilitate the “rehabilitation” of gay people. No such provision has been included in the amended bill.
A measure that obliged people to report homosexual activity was amended only to require reporting when a child is involved. Failure to do so is subject to five years in jail or a fine of 10 million Ugandan shillings.
A person (or hotel) who “knowingly allows for his or her premises to be used for acts of homosexuality” faces seven years in jail in this East African Country.
The amended bill also includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality, which would include any advocacy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer citizens in Uganda.
One of the bravest institutions in Uganda is the Metropolitan Community Church in Kampala.
The church says: “Our greatest moral value and resisting exclusion is a primary focus of our ministry.
We want to continue to be conduits of faith where everyone is included in the family of God and where all parts of our being are welcomed at God’s table.
The Metropolian Community Church in Kampala
Ironically conservative churches may be behind the sentiments against the LGBTQ communities in Uganda.
The article Foreign Policy entitled: How U.S. Evangelicals Helped Homophobia Flourish in Africa explains.
Anti-gay sentiment had previously existed on the continent, but white American religious groups have boosted it.
In 2018, Val Kalende, an LGBTQ+ rights activist who even went on a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour in 2010 for her activism, went on TV during a church service to renounce lesbianism. Kalende, in 2022 wrote an op-ed titled “Unchanged: A lesbian Christian’s journey through ‘ex-gay’ life,” in which she apologized to Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community for her renunciation.
Evangelic churches and Western money had been involved in Uganda in manufacturing and sustaining the ex-gay framework in more than subtle and symbolic ways. Evangelical preachers have traveled across Africa, verbalizing this harmful language.
Suppose the law passes the Uganda parliament for the second time and is signed into law by the President, it will render lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are.
“It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other,” a CNN report says.
A new report published by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, a new initiative set up by international journalists and activists, revealed that millions of dollars had been granted to groups such as the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), the influential conservative religious group which has pushed for laws against homosexuality for over a decade.
On Twitter, some voices are very much in favor of this law, putting African pride as a reason to support it.
I think Africa should be allowed to make their own laws and demonize what they want to demonize.
Uganda makes us Great for all Africans Countries.
A group of leading scientists and academics from Africa and worldwide urged President Museveni to veto the bill, saying that “homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human sexuality.”
Museveni has 30 days to either sign the legislation into law, return it to parliament for another revision, or veto it and inform the parliamentary speaker.
The bill will, however, pass into law without the president’s assent if he returns it to parliament for a second time.
Anita Among, the speaker of the Uganda parliament, said: “Today, parliament has gone again into the history books of Uganda, Africa, and the world, because it brought up the issue of homosexuality, the moral question, the future of our children, and protecting families.”
She asked MPs to “remain steadfast” in their commitments, adding that “no amount of intimidation will make us retract from what we have done. Let’s stand firm.”
Leading international travel and tourism organizations, such as WTTC and UNWTO, have long understood the importance of equality to include LGBTQ communities.
“Travel and tourism are associated with peace, equality, and human connection. Making it a crime to be gay, lesbian, or transgender, and making it a crime for just saying this was wrong is putting travelers visiting such a country in harm’s way unless a visitor is aware of this situation,” says Juergen Steinmetz, Chairman of the World Tourism Network.
“Tour operators and airlines should pledge they will warn travelers to Uganda once this anti-LGBTQ law is signed.”
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has stated for years that travel is a way of life for a lot of people in this world, whatever their sexuality. Even in the toughest times, it continues to be a priority for populations around the world.
David Scowsill, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council Speech at IGLTA Global Convention in 2013
In the last years, LGBT tourism has experienced continued growth, being widely recognized as an important and promising segment of tourism worldwide. This segment can be a powerful vehicle for economic development, social inclusion and the competitiveness of tourism destinations.
Former UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai in 2017
World Tourism Network warns visitors to Uganda.
Only the World Tourism Network was directly outspoken in urging tour operators and airlines servicing Uganda to warn their clients about the new law once signed.
WTN’s chairman Juergen Steinmetz, who is also the publisher of eTurboNews, refused advertising and promotional articles to be published about Uganda for the time being.
If this law is signed, travelers to Uganda, regardless of their sexual orientation, must be aware of the danger of discussing LGBTQ issues in Uganda or for LGBTQ altogether to visit Uganda.
Juergen Steinmetz, Chairman World Tourism Network in 2023
The Ugandan writer and feminist Rosebell Kagumire warned in a tweet that the law could deny queer Ugandans housing, education, and “other fundamental rights” and could be used “by your enemies, and government included … against anyone”.
Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said: “The Ugandan president must immediately veto this law and take steps to protect the human rights of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Amnesty International also calls on the international community to urgently pressure the Ugandan government to protect the rights of LGBTI individuals in the country.”
