This June, as many people around the world celebrate Pride Month to commemorate those who fought to secure rights for the LGBTQ community, these rights still remain under threat in many countries. The United States should be doing more to press its partners to protect them.
Ground zero for the LGBTQ fight today is Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni recently signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which punishes homosexuality with life imprisonment and “aggravated homosexuality” with death.
The law drew headlines because of its harsh punishment, as well as the role played by American evangelical groups in promoting its passage. Uganda is also a close counterterrorism and security partner of the U.S. and a major recipient of U.S. assistance, receiving nearly $1 billion a year. This raised expectations that Washington has leverage to wield in pressing Kampala to change course.
In 2014, when an earlier version of the law passed, the United States did just that, imposing sanctions, freezing some aid and canceling a joint military exercise. Uganda’s Constitutional Court soon annulled the law on a technicality. Some credited American pressure for the law’s demise, though it proved only a temporary reprieve. The U.S. today faces the same question it did then: How should it react when a close partner obstructs human rights?
President Joe Biden released a statement condemning the law and said the U.S. would evaluate its implications on “all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda” as a result. This offered some comfort to the LGBTQ community in Uganda, but it raised questions too.
Why does this law merit White House attention when similarly draconian laws against homosexuality in other countries garner little attention at all? Many of the countries with the harshest laws against LGBTQ communities are some of America’s close “friends.”
Homosexuality remains criminalized in much of the world. About 70 countries outlaw gay acts, and laws in 12 countries apply the death penalty in some cases, though several thankfully don’t enforce it. In other countries, the LGBTQ community is protected under the law, but harassment by law enforcement is common, and violence and discrimination go unaddressed.
Where laws are changing, the trend has generally been toward more acceptance rather than less. Botswana, Gabon, Angola, Barbados and Singapore have all rolled back laws criminalizing gay sex or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in recent years.
But there are no signs of improvement in much of the world, even among America’s close partners.
Saudi Arabian law extends the death penalty to homosexuality, with other possible punishments including 100 lashes or temporary banishment. Of course, Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s worst human rights records across the board, with women treated as second-class citizens and near-total repression of civil society and political opposition. None of this has led the United States to reconsider its close security relationship and billions of dollars in arms sales.
While Egyptian law doesn’t specifically criminalize homosexuality, authorities use several vague laws to target LGBTQ communities, with a significant uptick in harassment since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power in 2014. Arbitrary arrest and detention, entrapment through dating apps and torture are commonly employed against LGBTQ individuals. This is even documented in the State Department’s annual human rights report.
Still, the American government won’t take a harder look at $1.4 billion in annual bilateral assistance to Egypt, most of which comes in the form of U.S. military aid. Congress has recently secured a freeze on a fraction of Egypt’s military support to press for progress on democracy and human rights, with a focus on political prisoners and elections. But Egypt’s record on LGBTQ rights hardly made the top 10 list of Washington’s concerns with Cairo’s abuses.
Nigeria is another important U.S. partner with a troubling record. National law imposes up to 14 years in prison for simply being gay, while some Nigerian states impose the death penalty under local versions of Shariah law. Since the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was passed a decade ago, violence against the LGBTQ community has increased.
The U.S. government publicly condemned the legislation but didn’t reconsider U.S. engagement, though U.S. security assistance to the country is often under scrutiny due to government violence against civilians and the use of child soldiers.
Not all of America’s partners embrace American values. That doesn’t mean we should cut off relations, but we should continue speaking up in defense of these values and considering what they mean in the grand scheme of our partnerships. After all, regimes that abuse the LGBTQ community typically obstruct other human rights too. This not only harms individuals but also drives instability and conflict in the long run.
The U.S. government should use Uganda’s law as an opportunity not just to reconsider its relationship with the Ugandan government but also to be a louder voice for these rights across the globe.
As we celebrate the LGBTQ community here at home, let’s not forget the fight to protect them elsewhere continues.
Elizabeth Shackelford is a senior fellow on U.S. foreign policy with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She was previously a U.S. diplomat and is the author of “The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age.”
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