Court upholds Anti-gay law
The Constitutional Court has dismissed a consolidated petition challenging the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023.
Five justices of the Constitutional Court led by Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera have ruled that the Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted to protect children and vulnerable members of the society.
“We think that the section that prohibits gay people from accessing housing and medical care will subject them to mental health care,” Justice Buteera ruled.
The Court had however ruled that sections 3, 2(c) and 9,11(2) are in violation of their right to health and adequate standards of living enshrined in the constitutuon and ordered that they be struck out.
The petition had sought among otherthings to strike out from the Constitution a law that criminalises what they called “consensual sex among adults”.
The petitioners including West Budama MP Fox Odoi, Uganda’s Ambassador to South Africa Kintu Nyango, Veteran Journalist Andrew Mwenda, Makerere University Law professors; Sylvia Tamale, Businye Kabumba and several society orgainstaions.
The petitioners had further alleged that the Anti-Homosexuality law infringes on several articles of the Constitution that relate to personal freedoms and dignity as well as hampering the fight against HIV/AIDS.
However, court ruled that the government of Uganda has been fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS and had registered massive success and that the law will not affect its spread in any way.
Speaking to the media after the judgement, Andrew Mwenda said they will challenge the said judgement in the Supreme Court.
“We are going to the Supreme Court and I have full confidence that the Judges will stand above our cultural prejudices and protect rights of homosexuals to live their lives as they wish,” said Mwenda.
According to Mwenda, grounds like protecting the children from being recruited as gay are baseless, saying the state never provided any evidence to prove that such activities were happening in schools.
The court has however ordered each party to bear its own costs.
