(C) OpenDemocracy
This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



LGBTIQ+ Ugandans are wary of ruling that protects their right to healthcare [1]

[]

Date: 2024-04 

Before setting off to the clinic for his monthly refill of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), Himena* has a ritual. He removes his ear pins and wears a hoodie to cover his braided hair.

Since the passing of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) last April, Himena, a gay man, has felt increasingly unsafe. Even at a donor-aided clinic that provides HIV/AIDS services and is located at a government hospital.

“I can’t just act freely. I’m scared that I’m easy to spot from the queue,” he told openDemocracy. Last month, as Himena waited in a queue, another queer patient – visibly sporting lip balm and painted nails – was pulled out of the line by a health worker who asked, “What’s wrong with you?” and made them wait away from the reception area. Himena said such homophobic and stigmatising actions by health workers have increased at the clinic since AHA was passed.

Earlier this month, after hearing a petition from 22 individuals and organisations challenging the AHA, Uganda’s constitutional court refused to annul it in its entirety – and rejected arguments that the law infringes on the constitutional rights and freedoms of LGBTIQ Ugandans.

Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now

But the court did strike down four of the AHA's clauses, including one it said violated LGBTIQ+ people’s access to health, especially HIV/AIDS treatment and care.

At face value, this might seem a win of sorts for queer Ugandans, and has been celebrated as such by some campaigners who believe that their right and access to healthcare has been protected.

But the annulments have also been criticised by many as an attempt to sanitise an otherwise horrific ruling. Nicholas Opiyo, a lawyer to the petitioners, told reporters at the court it was a “failed attempt at a balancing act”.

“If you can’t express yourself or rent a house in this country, what is there to say you have a right to health?” he asked.

A right to health or a trap?

For many queer Ugandans, the arrests, evictions and attacks they have suffered since AHA was passed disprove any suggestion that their right to healthcare has now been protected.

“I’ve not felt any reassurance. The [AHA] has already done its damage,” said Himena.

While the court guarantees access to health services, fears remain that messaging around healthcare may fall under the “promotion” of homosexuality, a vague and overreaching offence punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Health educators also worry that people could also be arrested for the possession of medical products like lubricants and pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) – medicine taken to prevent contracting HIV – and that the number of people accessing health services is likely to remain low. The rate of gay patients attending a major referral hospital in eastern Uganda for treatment has fallen from about 300 last year to a little over 100, according to Emma*, a doctor offering HIV/AIDS services, who asked that only their first name be used out of fear of reprisal.

“The government is basically saying, ‘If we catch you doing this, we’ll imprison you, but if you do it, you can still access medication’. The queer community I supply medicine to see it as a trap,” Jovan Nyanzi, a transwoman sex worker and peer health educator in eastern Uganda told openDemocracy.

Nyanzi is part of a network of peer health educators around the country who have played a central role in queer health access by collecting HIV/AIDS medication, contraception and lubricants from health centres and delivering them to LGBTIQ+ people who are unable to visit in person.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/uganda-court-anti-homosexuality-act-healthcare-lgbtiq-rights/

Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/