Religious doctrines profoundly shape Uganda’s social, cultural, legal, and political landscape. With over 84% Christians and 13% Muslim populations2, religious beliefs heavily influence moral norms, public opinion, and policy making3. Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum has documented repeated incidents of mob attacks and evictions that occurred after religious sermons condemning homosexuality4. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has also noted that religious hostility undermines public health interventions for LGBTQI+ communities5. With the current trend, religious teachings are deeply embedded in socialization processes and often serve as the primary lens through which communities interpret issues of sexuality and gender. Within this environment, LGBTQI+ persons exist at the intersection of spiritual doctrine, cultural norms, and legislative actions that collectively define their daily realities.
Opponents of same-sex relationships contend that homosexuality is a foreign behavior that is unacceptable in Uganda and the broader African culture, and it is also condemned by religion. 1 This perception of the LGBTQ+ community is reflected in social attitudes and policies that stigmatize and discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons. However, there have been few efforts to interrogate the nexus between religion, culture, and policy as it relates to social attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community. This study is significant insofar as it fills this gap. A survey conducted in 2023 revealed that Uganda is a continental extreme in rejecting people in same-sex relationships. 2 In this context, this research seeks to identify and analyze the root causes, manifestations, and impact of religious, policy, and culturally-based stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in Uganda. It further interrogates the influence of religion on Uganda’s culture and policies. Related, it seeks to identify the common attitudes, beliefs, and myths regarding homosexuality. This study is the first conducted in Uganda for these specific purposes. The findings will be used to guide religious, policy, and cultural advocacy to confront stigma and discrimination towards Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community.
It is apparent that, on the cultural front, there is a lot that must be done
to protect the rights of LGBTQ people, because the cultures of the
majority of people in Uganda have been interpreted in a reified way that
is absolutely exclusive of LGBTQ people and unbending towards
acceptance of diversity, and yet this is not necessarily true of culture as
it was before the influence of religious extremism. It is clear from the
discussions with the kingdom officials from Buganda, for instance, that
there is certainly room within the framework for acceptance of and care
for the LGBTQ people within Uganda. It would however require
extensive effort on the part of the kingdom leadership to influence
attitudinal change among the general population.
This report presents the findings of Universal Coalition of Affirming Africans Uganda (UCAA- UG) in collaboration with Friends of Canon Gideon Foundation (FOCAGIFO) from the study on the role of faith and religion in shaping HIV related stigma, treatment adherence, and service uptake among LGBTQ+ individuals in Uganda.
UCAAA-UG was the first faith-based organization established in 2017 to advocate for the inclusion of the most marginalized groups of people in Uganda using faith-based approaches. This was after the realization that marginalized groups are deprived of their human rights and treated unfairly in our communities, using religion as a justification.