The American Behind Uganda’s New Anti-LGBTQ Bill
Scott Lively is one of many evangelical activists pushing hate against the LGBTQ community in Uganda and other African nations.
Since the early 90s, Lively has been crusading against the LGBTQ community around the world, most notably in the US, Latvia, Russia, and Uganda, by spreading demonstrably false claims, founding and running extremist groups, and helping to author hate-based legislation. And now his influence is on full display in Uganda’s new anti-LGBTQ bill.
In March 2023, Uganda’s Parliament passed what has been dubbed the “2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill.” It’s been described as one of the most repressive and disturbing anti-LGBTQ bills in modern history. This bill is intentionally ambiguous, poorly worded, and contains harsh punishments for seemingly anything to do with same-sex relationships:
- Death penalty for “aggrevated homosexuality”
- 10 years imprisonment for “offense of homosexuality,” conducting a same-sex marriage, or attempting to enter a same-sex marriage
- 5 years imprisonment for “procuring [of] homosexuality by threats”
- $25,000 fine or 5 years imprisonment for “promotion of homosexuality”
Governments and NGOs around the world have spoken out because this bill is repressive and could lead to wide-spread persecution of members (or suspected members) of the LGBTQ community.
In reality, this deeply repressive legislation will institutionalize discrimination, hatred, and prejudice against LGBTI people, including those who are perceived to be LGBTI and block the legitimate work of civil society, public health professionals, and community leaders.
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International, Regional Director East and Southern Africa
The people responsible for this bill and Uganda’s harmful LGBTQ ideas are a group of American evangelicals, particularly a man named Scott Lively.
Who Is Scott Lively?
In his autobiography, Lively claims he became an alcoholic at 12 years old because of a problematic family situation. After being homeless for many years and traveling across the US, he entered rehab in 1986 and became a born-again Christian. Not long after, he started his crusade against the LGBTQ community.
In 1989, he joined the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a defunct conservative political group, and quickly rose to the rank of State Communications Director, a position he used to shift the group from being pro-life to being anti-homosexual. In the following years, he led the organization against the “rapid advance of that agenda in Oregon.” By 1991, his efforts had brought him into significant conflict with the Portland community, culminating in him throwing a woman against a wall and dragging her across the floor of a church because she was trying to film one of their meetings. Lively is now the president of Abiding Truth Ministries, an equally hateful group based in Massachusetts.
“I realized that homosexuality was even more destructive to society than abortion.”
Scott Lively, “A Lively Life”
Lively has also published 4 novels:
- “The Pink Swastika” in 1996
- “Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child: A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Children from Homosexuality and the ‘Gay’ Movement” in 1998
- “Why and How to Defeat the ‘Gay’ Movement” in 2000
- “Redeeming the Rainbow: A Christian Response to the ‘Gay’ Agenda in 2009.
These books don’t need or deserve an explanation, but “The Pink Swastika” is strange enough to warrant a bit of discussion. Lively and coauthor Kevin Abrams claim that homosexuals were the main architects of Nazism and were responsible for most of the atrocities committed against the Jews. This book, as well as all of his others, have been roundly discredited as nonsense.
“There is no question that homosexuality figures prominently in the history of the Holocaust. … The first years of terrorism against the Jews were carried out by the homosexuals of the SA.”
Scott Lively, “The Pink Swastika”
“Kill the Gays” Bill
Scott Lively has been active abroad as well. In 2006, he founded the Lativian-based Watchmen on the Walls, yet another hate group. The name comes from the book of Nehemiah, in which watchmen protect the reconstruction of Jerusalem. Today, what’s being protected is society, and the threat is the LGBTQ movement, or so they believe. He then went on a tour of Russia and several ex-Soviet countries, during which he gave dozens of speeches, appeared in documentaries and on live TV programs, and met with leaders to draft anti-LGBTQ legislation. Out of the 9 countries he visited, 8 of them eventually proposed criminalizing homosexuality.
Lively traveled to Kampala, Uganda in 2009 to help policy-makers draft what would become known as the “Kill the Gays” bill. At the Triangle Hotel, he gave a speech entitled “Exposing the Truth Behind Homosexuality and the Homosexual Agenda.” This speech not only promoted clear falsehoods but encouraged discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community. In attendance were thousands of government officials, community leaders, religious leaders, and law enforcement. Lively and other activists, such as Don Schmierer and Caleb Brundidge, Jr., continued to work with Uganda’s leaders, and only a month later Member of Parliament David Bahati presented the first draft of “The Anti Homosexuality Act, 2009.”
This bill earned the name “Kill the Gays” because it included the death penalty for engaging in same-sex sexual relations. This portion, though, was downgraded to life in prison when it was signed into law in 2014. In the 2010 documentary “Vanguard: Missionaries of Hate,” Lively claimed that he was not in favor of the death penalty but that he would rather the law be passed with such harsh punishment included than not passed at all.
“The gay movement is an evil institution [whose] goal is to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity in which there’s no restrictions on sexual conduct except the principle of mutual choice.”
Scott Lively, Kampala, Uganda, March 2009
Uganda Strikes Back
Scott Lively’s influence is alive and well in Uganda as well as in neighboring countries. Because of years of rhetoric and outright lies, he has shifted the general attitude towards the LGBTQ community across the continent and inspired the next generation of American anti-LGBTQ activists. However, Ugandan LGBTQ activists are pushing back, particularly against foreign influence. In an interview with NPR, Richard Lusimbo, a well-known LGBTQ activist called out the evangelicals spreading hate in his country:
“From the very start, this whole bill coming into Uganda was because of, for example, American evangelicals who would come to Uganda. And what’s happening in Uganda is not just in isolation.”
Richard Lusimbo, NPR
Lusimbo began his activism in 2011 when he joined Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an umbrella organization with 18 LGBTQ activist groups who are dedicated to protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community. He quickly rose to the rank of Research and Documentation Officer, where he began documenting the many abuses experienced by the LGBTQ community in Uganda. Around this time, he also became Chair of African Research Team for Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights. He then went on to become the Country Coordinator for REAct, board member of Transgender Equality Uganda, Co-Secretary General Alternate of the ILGA World Board, among many other influential positions.
Perhaps the best known activist is Frank Mugisha. In 2004, he founded Icebreakers Uganda, a support network for LGBTQ members struggling to come out. He is the head of SMUG, won the RFK Human Rights Award in 2011, and was voted among the 100 most important leaders in the world.
In 2012, Lusimbo and Mugisha filed the lawsuit “Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Scott Lively” to stop Lively and other anti-LGBTQ activists from operating in Uganda. They alleged that the Americans’ work was a clear case of crimes against humanity. The UN defines crimes against humanity as a widespread or systematic attack against civilians, including persecution against an identifiable group. Unfortunately, the US judge presiding over the case dismissed it on jurisdictional grounds, though Lusimbo and Mugisha still consider it a win. The judge gave a stark warning to Lively and his peers, saying that their activism was certainly a violation of international law.
“Anyone reading this memorandum should make no mistake. The question before the court is not whether Defendant’s actions in aiding and abetting efforts to demonize, intimidate, and injure LGBTI people in Uganda constitute violations of international law. They do.”
Judge Michael Ponsor, “Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Scott Lively”
The new bill still needs to be signed into law by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is likely to do so. When this happens, though, Mugisha and others have already vowed to fight it in both local and international court. Considering the previous statements by Judge Ponsor, they might have a decent chance of winning on the international level.
