Lucy AkelloUgandan parliamentarian whose political career is marked by her ultra-conservative positions and her support for legislation that violates human rights, will participate in the VI Transatlantic Summit organized by the Values Policy Networkwhich the Senate will host this coming Monday, December 2.
Akello, as can be seen in the session diary of the Parliament of Uganda on May 2, 2023, was one of the deputies who supported the law against homosexuality approved that same year, legislation that restricts the rights of LGTBI+ people. two months beforeAkello had intervened in the Chamber to demand that the new law speak of “biological” men and women, appealing to the fact that today “there are creations of men and women.”
This latest version of the law, approved under the mandate of President Yoweri Museveni—after the country’s Constitutional Court declared a very similar law invalid for procedural reasons—in 2014, includes prison sentences for homosexual people and even punishments such as the death penalty in some cases. Furthermore, the law criminalizes and prohibits any form of public support or defense of LGTBI+ rights.
Akello also supported a resolution in which the Speaker of Parliament was praised for “defending” Ugandan cultural values against same-sex marriages in April 2018. “What these people are promoting seeks to destroy our families. (…) Let’s send a strong message to the world. Let’s not be afraid of what they can do to us [en referencia a las críticas de países occidentales por sus políticas antiLGTBI+]. Let’s keep our families intact,” Akello said then.
It was as a result of that resolution when Some Ugandan MPs asked Parliament to redraft an anti-homosexuality law, but solving possible legal errors so that the country’s Constitutional Court could not overthrow it as happened with the 2014 one. This norm from a decade ago was known in the Anglo-Saxon media, before its approval in the Parliament of Uganda, as “draft of law to kill gays.
Amnesty International already reported last year that since the passage of new anti-homosexuality legislation in May 2023 there had been “an increase in hatred, discrimination and violence against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity” in Uganda.
Furthermore, the law on this occasion was ratified by the Constitutional Court. The High Commissioner of United Nations for Human Rights, Volker Turk, expressed in April of this 2024 their dismay at this judicial decision. “Approximately 600 people have reportedly suffered human rights violations and abuses due to their real or presumed sexual orientation, or gender identity, since the law against homosexuality came into force,” he said in a statement.
However, Akello has openly supported these measures both in his country and abroad. other international ultra forumssuch as the World Congress of Families held in Italy in 2019 or at the V Transatlantic Summit held in New York in 2023and will do it again now in our country.
A viral video to accuse LGTBI+ organizations
The persecution of homosexual people in Uganda goes back a long way. As explained by the specialized blog Erasing 76 crimes, Elisha Mukisaa Ugandan who identified himself as homosexual, was in prison between 2014 and 2020 accused of sexually abusing a minor. When he got out of prison he a videowhich went viral in Uganda, in which He accused SMUG, one of the country’s main organizations in defense of the rights of LGTBI+ people, of having “infected” and “recruited” him. for homosexuality when he was a minor.
Mukisa later claimed that anti-LGTBI+ activists had induced him to record the viral video
He also accused the organization of filming gay pornography and recruiting minors. Some time later, Mukisa assured openDemocracy that prominent activists against gay rights in Uganda had induced him to record that video when he was released from prison. The video was used to propagandize against LGTBI+ organizations and promote the need for a new anti-homosexuality law. Besides, Mukisa pointed out that three national deputies had written the script for it and hired a cameraman to film it. These were Charles Onen, Sarah Opendi and, precisely, Lucy Akello.
More ultras in the Senate
The Political Values Network is chaired by Chilean José Antonio Kast, a leader who considers abortion a “murder of the innocent.” In addition, the former minister of the PP, Jaime Mayor Oreja, is one of the top officials of the organization. Among the promoters of the event are also Brian Brownpresident of the International Family Organization —LGBTIphobic entity and against equal marriage—, and Sharon Slaterknown for its activism against inclusive sexual education and advances in LGTBI+ matters.
The holding of this ultra event in the Upper House was unanimously approved by the Senate Board, with four favorable votes from the PP and three from the PSOE. Although the Socialist Group subsequently demanded, like the BNG, ERC, EH Bildu, Junts, PNV and the Confederal Left, that the summit be prohibited.
Akello is not the only person at the summit with these types of ideas about homosexuality. This Wednesday, The Country already advanced that George Peter Kalumaa Kenyan parliamentarian who considers homosexuality a sin and a perversion, and who defends life sentences for gay men and lesbian women, was going to participate in the event. Kaluma is also currently promoting a new anti-homosexuality law in Kenya, in the image and likeness of the Ugandan one.
Although a few hours after the news was published the Values Policy Network removed Kaluma from its website where the confirmed speakers for the event are listed, Lucy Akello, the Ugandan deputy, continues to appear on it.
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