Uganda Cites U.S. Dobbs Decision in Ruling to Uphold Death Penalty for ‘Aggravated Homosexuality’
In other words, Uganda looked to the cruel, conservative logic of the U.S. legal system to justify its own law to kill queer people.
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On Wednesday, Uganda’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling that upheld most of the provisions of a law that imposes the death penalty—by hanging—on people convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” The court argues in favor of this monstrous position for a number of reasons. But a particularly chilling one is its citation of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and has since led to a rash of brutal abortion bans across the country.
“In [Dobbs], the US Supreme Court considered the nation’s history and traditions, as well as the dictates of democracy and rule of law, to overrule the broader right to autonomy,” the Constitutional Court wrote in a 203-page judgment after a legal challenge from human rights activists. “The court considered the implications of upholding the right to autonomy under the guise of personal dignity … and held that it was time to return the permissibility of abortion and the limitations thereon to the people’s elected representatives as demanded by the Constitution and the rule of law. This is precisely what was done with the issue of homosexuality in Uganda.”