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

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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 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?”. Then, the health worker 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.

Two weeks ago, Uganda’s constitutional court, which heard a petition from 22 individuals and organisations challenging the AHA, refused to annul it in its entirety- and rejected arguments that the law was infringing on the constitutional rights and freedoms of LGBTIQ Ugandans.

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However, the court struck down four clauses, including one it said violated LGBTIQ people’s access to health, especially HIV/AIDS treatment and care.

This, on the face, might seem a win of sorts for queer Ugandans, - and has been celebrated by some campaigners who believe that at least their right and access to health, is protected.

However, 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 added.

A right to health or a trap?

Many queer Ugandans are taking their lived experiences of arrests, evictions and other attacks since AHA was passed as wisdom against any belief that their right to health is now protected as a result of the Court’s ruling.

“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 health messaging may fall under “promotion” of homosexuality, a vague and overreaching offence fetching up to 20 years in prison. Health educators also say medical products like lubricants and Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) - medicine taken to prevent getting HIV - still put patients at risk of arrest by the police under the AHA if found on them, and that the numbers accessing health services is likely to remain low. The rate of gay patients coming in for treatment has drastically reduced since last year - from about 300 to a little over 100, at a major referral hospital in eastern Uganda, 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 make visits.

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

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