Kirchick: No More Subsidized Homophobia

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, created under George W. Bush in 2003, has distributed more than $50 billion for AIDS treatment and prevention funding worldwide, largely to Africa. But James Kirchick argues much of that funding goes to countries that promote homophobia, particularly Uganda, which goes to great lengths to punish gays and lesbians.

Kirchick writes in the Los Angeles Times, “Uganda’s campaign against homosexuality took a disturbing turn last month when a member of parliament in the nation’s governing majority introduced legislation that would stiffen penalties for actual or perceived homosexual activity, which is already illegal under Ugandan law. According to the proposed law, ‘repeat offenders’ could be sentenced to death, as would anyone engaging in a same-sex relationship in which one of the members is under the age of 18 or HIV-positive. Gay-rights advocacy would be illegal, and citizens would be compelled to report suspected homosexuals or those ‘promoting’ homosexuality to police; if they failed to do so within 24 hours, they could also be punished.”