The Ugandan Morality Crusade

Book excerpt: In 1999, General Museveni, Uganda's autocratic leader, ordered police to arrest homosexuals for engaging in behavior that he characterized as "un-African" and against Biblical teaching. A state-sanctioned campaign of harassment of LGBT people followed. With the approval of sections of Uganda's clergy (and with the support of U.S. evangelicals) harsh morality laws were passed against pornography and homosexual acts. The former law disproportionately affected urban women, curtailing their freedoms. The latter--known as the "kill the gays bill"--called for life imprisonment or capital punishment for homosexuals. The author weaves together a series of vignettes that trace the development of Uganda's morality laws amidst Machiavellian politics, religious fundamentalism and the human rights struggle of LGBT Ugandans.