Some Ugandan queer rights organizations have asked the government to repeal the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act that is currently under appeal at the Supreme Court to save the country from huge economic losses.
The organizations, while reacting to a new report that reveals the Anti-Homosexuality Act has cost Uganda up to $1.6 billion since President Yoweri Museveni signed it in May 2023, note the draconian law is not just “regressive” to LGBTQ rights, but also the economy.
The report that Open for Business, a coalition of leading global organizations that champion LGBTQ inclusion, released on Oct.
10 identifies foreign direct investment, donor aid, trade and tourism, and public health and productivity as major areas that economic losses have impacted. “Combined losses over five years are projected between $2.3 billion and $8.3 billion,” the report states.