Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill wants to 'rehabilitate' LGBTIQ+ people – African psychologists warn of its dangers
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Monday, May 1, 2023
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Unfortunately, the practices described in the declaration are included in the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by Uganda’s parliament.
Key Points:
- Unfortunately, the practices described in the declaration are included in the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by Uganda’s parliament.
- PsySSA president, professor Floretta Boonzaier, has described the bill to me as “an attack on human dignity, well-being, autonomy and self-determination”.
- Research conducted in three African countries in 2019 found that half of the respondents suffered some form of conversion.
- South African psychologists with expertise in sexuality and gender have condemned the bill.
No scientific grounding
- But he has ignored evidence-based critiques that have been presented to him over the years, dating back to 2010 and 2014.
- Brouard has said the bill
is anti-science and represents a backward step in contemporary understanding of human nature.
Perpetuating harm
- Professor Kopano Ratele, an acclaimed African psychology scholar, said via email that
the bill is, at its core, inhuman. - It seems that the bill is essentially about some people desiring to control the bodies, relationships, and the inner lives of others.
- It criminalises identity by prescribing prosecution for how people think, feel, identify, and, ultimately, who and how they love.
- Christian evangelical churches from the US have been directly linked to current anti-LGBTIQ+ ideologies in African countries.
The next steps
- We call on mental health professionals from across Africa to sign and endorse the declaration and to join the growing chorus of experts who have condemned Uganda’s dangerous bill.
- The PsySSA Sexuality and Gender Division, for example, has been at the forefront of leading a science-informed critique of the Ugandan bill.