UmojaPride Stories, Feature
Is It Illegal to Be Gay in Uganda? Your Questions Answered (2026)
What Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act actually says, the penalties, what the courts struck down, what it means for visitors, and where to get help.
These are the questions we are asked most often about Uganda’s law. The answers are based on the text of the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, the courts’ rulings, and reporting from human rights groups. This is general information, not legal advice. If you are in trouble, the last section explains where to get help.
Is it illegal to be gay in Uganda?
The Act makes same-sex sexual acts a crime, not identity as such. Section 2 says that a person who is “alleged or suspected of being a homosexual” but has not had sex with someone of the same sex “does not commit the offence of homosexuality”.
In practice, that distinction offers little protection. People are arrested, beaten, evicted and blackmailed on suspicion alone. The Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) recorded 969 cases targeting LGBTIQ people in the first 32 months of the Act.
What are the penalties?
Under the 2023 Act:
- Same-sex sexual acts: up to life imprisonment.
- Attempting a same-sex act: up to 10 years.
- “Aggravated homosexuality”: the death penalty.
- Attempted “aggravated homosexuality”: up to 14 years.
- “Promotion of homosexuality”: up to 20 years. Organisations can be fined and lose their licences.
What is “aggravated homosexuality”?
It is a same-sex act in particular circumstances listed in section 3. They include where the other person is a child, is of “advanced age”, has a disability or mental illness, or did not consent; where the accused is a parent, guardian or relative, or a person in authority; and where the accused is a “serial offender”. Some of these describe abuse that would be a serious crime whatever the genders involved. Others, such as being a “serial offender”, can apply to consenting adults.
Has anyone been executed?
No. According to the UK government’s travel advice, the death penalty has not been carried out on civilians in Uganda since 1999. But people have been charged with “aggravated homosexuality”, which carries it. We wrote about the first case to be dismissed, and why its outcome was not a victory.
What counts as “promotion”?
Section 11 covers a wide range of conduct, including:
- encouraging or persuading someone to perform a same-sex act
- knowingly publishing, broadcasting or distributing material that “promotes” homosexuality
- funding such activities
- leasing premises for them
- running an organisation that “promotes or encourages” homosexuality
The UK government warns that this offence “could affect those who are exercising their freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association” in support of LGBTQ+ people. It is the part of the law most likely to reach allies, activists, journalists and charities.
Does the law apply to women?
Yes. The Act is written in terms of “a person” and “a person of the same sex”, so it applies to women as well as men.
Do I have to report someone to the police?
No. In April 2024, the Constitutional Court struck down four sections of the Act. They included the section on failing to report homosexuality to the police, the section on letting premises “for homosexual purposes”, and a section on same-sex acts that result in someone contracting a terminal illness. The rest of the Act was upheld.
Is the law being challenged?
Yes. Twenty-two appellants, including HRAPF, the former MP Fox Odoi and the journalist Andrew Mwenda, appealed to the Supreme Court in July 2024. A hearing was set for 31 March 2026 but was postponed a few days before, and no new date has been announced. The Supreme Court is probably the last route in Uganda to have the Act struck down.
Was it legal before 2023?
No. Section 145 of the Penal Code Act already punished “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” with life imprisonment, and it is still in force. That law dates from British colonial rule. We have written about where it came from. The 2023 Act added harsher penalties and new offences on top of it.
Is it legal to be transgender?
The Act does not mention gender identity. But trans people are among those most often targeted, through arrests, evictions and public humiliation. Human Rights Watch has documented a shelter for trans people being given 14 days to leave after the Act was passed.
Is it safe to visit Uganda as an LGBTQ+ person?
The law applies to everyone in Uganda, including visitors. The UK government warns that LGBTQ+ people, or people thought to be LGBTQ+, “may be at greater risk of harassment, imprisonment, blackmail and violence”. If you do travel, think carefully about what is on your phone and who you meet. Our guide to how traps on dating apps work applies to visitors as much as to people who live there.
What happens in practice?
Most harm does not come through court convictions. It comes through arrests that never reach trial, police extortion, entrapment on dating apps, evictions by landlords, families turning people out, and mobs. Human Rights Watch’s 2025 report sets out what the Act has unleashed, and our own article covers the human cost.
Where can I get help?
- Legal help in Uganda: the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), +256 414 530683, [email protected].
- Support from us: contact UmojaPride. The contact page explains what each way of reaching us does and does not protect.
- Safety guides: our free guides cover digital security, money, housing and emergencies.
- Claiming asylum in the UK: Rainbow Migration supports LGBTQI+ people through the asylum process.
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