• Ugandan authorities have perpetrated widespread discrimination and violence against LGBT people in the two years since the Anti-Homosexuality Act became law.
• The Ugandan authorities have spread misinformation and hatred against LGBT people, making existing discrimination even worse.
• The Ugandan authorities should end their crackdown on LGBT people, repeal the bill, and introduce legislation barring discrimination and promoting equality.

(Nairobi, May 26, 2025) – Ugandan authorities have perpetrated widespread discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, their families, and their supporters in the two years since the Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted on May 26, 2023, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 69-page report, “‘They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk’: How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse,” documents the actions by Ugandan parliament members, government institutions, and other authorities that culminated in the enactment of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Human Rights Watch found that the law has ramped up already existing abuse and discrimination against LGBT people to unprecedented heights. They also detailed the rights violations enabled by the law and the devastating impact it has had on the lives of LGBT people, activists, allies, and their families in Uganda.

May 26, 2025

“They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk”

How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse

• Download the full report in English
• Appendix I: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions
• Appendix II: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Inspector General of Police
• Appendix III: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Minister of Health
• Appendix IV: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Minister of ICT and National Guidance

“For the last two years, LGBT Ugandans have suffered a range of abuses because of the government’s willful decision to legislate hate against them,” said Oryem Nyeko, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Ugandan authorities need to urgently improve this environment, which enables a wide range of human rights violations and puts countless Ugandans at serious risk of abuse.”

During the months leading up to and following the law being passed, the Ugandan authorities, including high-profile political and government figures, used traditional and social media to spread misinformation and hatred against LGBT people, leading to an uptick in attacks and harassment against LGBT people and LGBT rights groups.

Researchers interviewed 59 people, including LGBT people, family members, representatives of LGBT rights organizations, activists, journalists, and lawmakers between August 2022 and April 2025. They reviewed the parliamentary records of the house debates about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, speeches by government figures and religious leaders, and media reporting in the lead-up to the passage of the bill.

Human Rights Watch found that in the lead-up to, and since the enactment of, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the government has deliberately negatively shaped the public discourse about LGBT people in Uganda. This has encouraged attacks and harassment of individuals and independent organizations perceived as supportive of LGBT rights.

During this period, the authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained LGBT people, used entrapment via social media and dating apps, and extorted money from LGBT people in exchange for releasing them from police custody. LGBT people told Human Rights Watch they faced a range of physical attacks and online harassment because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or their LGBT rights activism. Many victims said they reported these attacks to the police, who took no discernible action.

The authorities, primarily the National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations and the police, also led a crackdown against LGBT rights groups, shutting down organizations that provide vital legal, sexual, and mental health services, arresting and detaining their staff, and in some cases seizing equipment and soliciting bribes from their staff.

Many of the people Human Rights Watch interviewed said that while violence targeting LGBT people and anti-LGBT rhetoric existed well before the law was introduced, the hostility intensified during its adoption and since.

One LGBT rights activist said: “Before the bill was tabled [in February 2023], you would receive calls once in a while, where someone would say: ‘We know what you are doing.’… But when they started tabling the bill, that is when these calls started becoming a lot. Where people would keep on calling you [saying]: ‘We know where you stay. We know what you do.’”

On April 3, 2024, the Constitutional Court upheld most provisions of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, after a cross-section of human rights activists challenged the law on the grounds that it violates fundamental rights guaranteed in Uganda’s constitution. The court did, however, strike down sections that restricted healthcare access for LGBT people, criminalized renting premises to LGBT people, and created an obligation to report alleged acts of homosexuality.

Human Rights Watch wrote to the director of public prosecutions; the inspector general of police; the minister of health; the minister of information, communications technology, and national guidance; and the executive director of the Uganda Communications Commission, to provide a summary of research findings and to request information. None responded.

Ugandan authorities should end their clampdown on LGBT rights groups, refrain from engaging in anti-LGBT rhetoric and hate speech, and ensure that those responsible for incitement to hatred and other human rights abuses and crimes against LGBT people are held to account, Human Rights Watch said.

The government should repeal the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act and the Penal Code provisions criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct between adults. It should introduce comprehensive equality and nondiscrimination legislation that would protect everyone from violence and discrimination, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

“The state-sanctioned bigotry and discrimination that has only become more entrenched in Uganda over the past two years has no place in a society that upholds human rights and the rule of law,” Nyeko said. “Uganda should end its assault on LGBT people and choose a future of dignity, equality, and freedom for all those who live there.”