A harsh climate for many LGBTQ people in Africa is getting worse. Some blame the US

By Nimi Princewill, CNN

(CNN) — When 22-year-old Wendy Faith shared a Valentine’s Day kiss with 21-year-old Alesi Diana Denise in Uganda — a country infamous for enforcing some of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ laws — the lives of both women were about to take a complicated turn.

Faith and Denise, residents of Arua, a commercial hub in the northwest, have been charged with offenses related to homosexuality and indecency, according to a charge sheet obtained by CNN.

In the East African nation, like in some others on the continent, being LGBTQ also means being at risk of being jailed.

Consensual same-sex relations between adults can lead to life imprisonment in Uganda. A law, implemented in 2023, also carries the death penalty for those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality,” which includes sexual acts involving minors, the elderly or disabled people.

If Faith and Denise are convicted, they could each receive a sentence of up to seven years in prison.

Douglas Mawadri, one of the lawyers representing Faith and Denise, said they were arrested on February 18 and their apartment was searched after a photo of the two kissing surfaced online.

The women had been under police surveillance before their arrest, according to Frank Mugisha, who heads Sexual Minorities Uganda, an LGBTQ advocacy group working to secure their release.

Mugisha told CNN that one of the women was a content creator who organized a female dance group that frequently met at her apartment. He said the women’s neighbors informed police of their alleged relationship.

A regional police spokesperson, Josephine Angucia, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. But she told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper the two “have been involved in queer and unusual acts believed to be sexual in nature besides being allegedly seen kissing each other in broad daylight.”

Mugisha, whose organization has been in contact with the women, said he was unable to verify Angucia’s claim, describing it as “hearsay.”

Their lawyer Mawadri said Faith and Denise entered not guilty pleas at their court appearance on March 4. The two were refused bail, and the case was scheduled for a hearing later this month, he said.

The case is a stark example of the environment that many people accused of being LGBTQ in Africa face.

While attitudes vary, the majority of African nations criminalize same-sex relations. On top of that, a host are tightening rules further. The reasons why are complex. But activists and analysts say one factor is attitudes in the United States, something that has only worsened during the second term of Donald Trump’s presidency.

A difficult climate

In late February, Senegal joined the growing number of countries on the continent whose leaders were advocating for stricter anti-LGBTQ laws. In this largely Muslim West African nation, often regarded as one of Africa’s most stable and progressive democracies, same-sex relationships have been illegal for more than six decades.

Last week, Senegal’s parliament approved a bill that doubles the penalty for same-sex relations, increasing the maximum prison sentence to 10 years. The legislation also imposes three to seven-year sentences for those advocating for LGBTQ rights.

In Ghana, also in West Africa, lawmakers are reviving a similar bill that seeks to impose up to three years of imprisonment for identifying as LGBTQ, with advocates facing potential sentences of up to 10 years.

Although this bill was first introduced in 2021 and initially passed in 2024, it was not signed into law by the previous president. Currently, same-sex relations in Ghana can lead to a prison sentence of up to three years. The current president says he will sign the bill into law if it passes parliament.

Additionally, anti-gay laws have been introduced in other parts of the region, recently in Mali in 2024 and in Burkina Faso the following year. Both countries previously had no laws against consensual same-sex relationships.

Historically, anti-LGBTQ laws have been entrenched in many parts of Africa, a predominantly conservative continent. Many of the continent’s citizens welcome such laws, which reflect conservative religious and cultural views. Some of these regulations had their origins in British colonial statutes that outlawed “sodomy” and “unnatural offenses.”

So why is the US being blamed?

Ugandan LGBTQ rights activist Hans Senfuma described the experience of being gay in his country as “living in a permanent state of grief,” and said he believes the recent increase in anti-gay legislation across Africa is fueled by a lack of political support for the LGBTQ community in the US.

“When the most powerful country in the world signals that LGBTQ people are not worthy of protection, when it rolls back rights, when it removes gender from official documents, when it cuts funding to programs that serve our community globally, it sends a message that travels far beyond American borders. It tells leaders here (in Africa) that the international consequences they once feared may no longer materialize,” Senfuma told CNN from the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Trump has faced criticism for policies seen as detrimental to gay, transgender and nonbinary individuals.

In his inaugural address last year, Trump stated that the US government would officially recognize only two genders — male and female — through an executive order he signed that same day, along with one ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. In contrast, one of the Biden administration’s first acts in 2021 was to formally task its agencies with combating anti-LGBTQ legislation globally.

Concerns regarding Trump’s stance on LGBTQ rights have persisted since he began his first term in 2017. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported a “sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people across the entire federal government” during that time.

Such criticism resurfaced in his second term.

Last month, the Trump administration removed a LGBTQ Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, the first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights in the US. This action followed a directive limiting the types of flags allowed at National Park sites.

Additionally, Trump cut funding for various global aid programs, including those that supported LGBTQ individuals living with HIV in Africa.

Reuters cited a prominent Ghanaian lawyer and anti-LGBTQ activist as saying after Trump’s inauguration that “Ghana is on the right side of the United States,” given the president’s stance.

The US influence did not begin with Trump. His stance, particularly on trans rights, reflects what has been happening at state level. More than half of US states have bans on at least some gender identity care for transgender children and teenagers, according to a CNN tally.

And while Trump’s policies and rhetoric may have had an impact in Africa, some US Christian groups operating in the continent have for years been seen by critics to have reinforced anti-LGBTQ sentiments.

CNN has previously reported on how a US-based Christian organization allegedly played a role in the creation of the Ghanaian anti-LGBTQ legislation, what one activist called a “homophobe’s dream bill.”

Campaigners noted the anti-LGBTQ movement there gained momentum following a conference in 2019, organized by the World Congress of Families, which promotes right-wing Christian values. At the time, the organization said it provided inspiration, not instruction. CNN has not heard back from the group regarding whether it backed or influenced Ghana’s revived anti-LGBTQ bill.

Similarly, another US Christian lobbying group, Family Watch International, denied advocating for anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda or any other African nation, saying it opposes any such efforts.

Just weeks before Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act in May 2023. Museveni was pictured with Family Watch International co-founder Sharon Slater at a conference on sex education.

Political distraction

Some observers say anti-LGBTQ sentiment is home-grown, with that population used as a scapegoat to mask other problems.

Takyiwaa Manuh, an emerita professor at the University of Ghana, argues that targeting the LGBTQ community deflects attention from issues of poor governance.

“It is good for diverting attention from the failures of many of (African) countries, (such as) poor governance, and the miserable conditions under which people live,” she told CNN.

Swikani Ncube, a public law lecturer at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, suggests that rising anti-Western sentiment in parts of the continent, especially in former French colonies like Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal — where French troops were recently expelled — could be a contributing factor.

Senegal was taken off France’s list of “safe” nations by the country’s highest administrative court in 2021 due to a lack of protection for LGBTQ people.

However, Ncube believes the issue is more complex.

“Since the LGBTQ movement gained prominence, Western countries and the US were at the forefront of vilifying those who seemed to stand in opposition. While the Trump administration’s stance on the matter has a role to play, the renewed crackdown could be down to the disintegration of the multilateral system and a sense of lack of global solidarity,” he told CNN.

“For those who previously adopted moderate approaches as an expression of ‘goodwill,’ the ‘each-man-for-himself’ approach currently playing out has shifted the veil, enabling states to revert to anti-gay attitudes,” he added.

Senfuma, the activist who said he lives in constant fear in Uganda, and faces threats and harassment for being gay, believes that politics is the primary reason why the climate is worsening.

“When a government is struggling with inflation, corruption, and failing public services, it is very convenient to point at us. LGBTQI people become a scapegoat, a distraction, a way to manufacture national unity around hatred,” he explained. “Politicians have been doing this for centuries with different targets. We happen to be the target right now.”

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