Pope Francis meets with Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist

On Tuesday, Pope Francis met with a Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist at the Vatican.

Clare Byarugaba from Chapter Four Uganda posted a picture on her X account of herself sitting beside Francis. A video she shared shows Juan Carlos Cruz—a gay Chilean man, clergy sex abuse survivor, and member of a commission advising Francis on child protection—introducing her to the pope.

Cruz also serves on the GLAAD board of directors.

According to ‘Washington Blade’, Byarugaba, who founded PFLAG Uganda, expressed that she was “honored to meet” Pope Francis. She mentioned that she informed him about “the ruinous impact of Uganda’s two in a decade anti-LGBTIQ rights laws,” including the Anti-Homosexuality Act signed by President Yoweri Museveni in 2023 and “the gross human rights violations therein.”

According to Byarugaba, the Pope emphasised that discrimination is a sin and violence against LGBTQ+ communities is unacceptable.

Image Credit: Canva

In a January 24, 2023, interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis stated that homosexuality is not a crime and described laws criminalising it as “unjust.” A few days later, he reiterated these remarks during a press conference on a flight departing from South Sudan, a country neighbouring Uganda.

Consensual same-sex relations are still criminalised in South Sudan.

Pope Francis told reporters, “The criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored. Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.”

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act includes a death penalty clause for “aggravated homosexuality.”

Following the signing of the law by Museveni, the U.S.A. imposed visa restrictions on Ugandan officials and removed the country from a trade program allowing sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the U.S.A.

Additionally, the World Bank Group announced it would halt new loans to Uganda.

On April 3, Uganda’s Constitutional Court denied a request to “nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act in its totality.”

More than a dozen activists appealed the decision to the country’s Court of Appeal and filed a second appeal with the Supreme Court on July 11.

In the past decade, countries including Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, and Seychelles have decriminalised consensual same-sex relations.

The Namibian government recently appealed a decision that overturned the country’s apartheid-era sodomy laws. On July 10, Burkina Faso’s military government announced plans to recriminalise consensual same-sex relations in the country.

Read related myGwork articles here:

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Uganda Activists, Lecturers And Others Fight Harsh Anti-LGBTQ+ Law In Court

Uganda's Constitutional Court Considers Challenge to Anti-Homosexuality Act 1

Uganda’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Law Causing Wave of Rights Abuses, Activists Say

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