What the World Bank's Silence Means for LGBTQ+ Ugandans

The World Bank halted new lending to Uganda in August 2023 over the Anti-Homosexuality Act. In June 2025 it announced that lending would resume, saying it was satisfied with “mitigation measures” across its projects in Uganda. In October 2025, Uganda’s Ministry of Finance said the country would receive $2 billion from the Bank over three financial years. The Bank did not comment on that figure.

The law has not changed. That has left many of us in the LGBTQ+ Ugandan community uneasy, and it is a troubling reversal: it shows how easily human rights can be set aside when money and politics meet.

Global institutions going quiet

The World Bank describes itself as an institution committed to ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Yet by restoring lending to a government that criminalises same-sex relationships, with the death penalty in some cases, the World Bank risks betraying that very mission. Fabrice Houdart, a former World Bank official, put it bluntly: “the Bank is a fair-weather ally”.

Amnesty International has urged the Bank to use this moment as leverage, encouraging it to push Uganda to repeal its discriminatory law. As Roland Ebole of Amnesty noted, the Bank is “powerful enough” to insist that no government programme it funds should exclude or endanger people based on who they are.

This is not a call to deny Uganda financial support. It is a call to ensure that international aid does not become a moral blind spot. Money meant to alleviate poverty should never end up fuelling persecution.

Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ law is bad economics

For those who still view equality as a “Western” issue, the numbers tell a different story. Discrimination is not only morally indefensible; it is economically costly.

According to Open for Business, Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ policies have cost the country an estimated $586 million to $2.4 billion a year, as international investors withdraw, tourism declines and skilled workers seek safety abroad.

The evidence is clear: homophobia shrinks economies. It stifles creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation, the very things the World Bank claims to champion. No country can develop by excluding its own citizens from opportunity. Inclusion is not charity; it is sound economic strategy, which is why business leaders have a stake in LGBTQ+ rights.

The never-ending politics of sovereignty and the mask of culture

Whenever Uganda faces global criticism of its human rights record, leaders often respond with defiance, invoking “national sovereignty” and “cultural values” as shields. But let us be honest: culture cannot excuse cruelty.

Human rights are not Western inventions; they are universal principles designed to protect every person, everywhere. To weaponise culture or sovereignty to justify state-sponsored intolerance is to distort both.

This narrative has been used for decades to rally political support and distract from corruption and poverty. It is not patriotism; it is manipulation.

Silence as complicity

Perhaps the most alarming part of this development is not the funding itself, but how quietly it has been handled. The Bank resumed lending on the strength of “mitigation measures” while the law stayed exactly as it was, and it did not comment when Uganda announced $2 billion in new funding. That sends a clear message: LGBTQ lives can be quietly negotiated when larger financial interests are involved.

Western governments often play the same balancing act. They issue statements of “concern” while maintaining trade ties and diplomatic courtesies. Yet for LGBTQ Ugandans living in fear, silence from the international community is not neutrality; it is abandonment. Silence, in moments like this, is complicity.

A call to our global LGBTQ community

As activists, we cannot let this pass unnoticed. This is the time to speak louder, and to question institutions that claim to fight poverty while funding repression. The struggle for equality is not only about repealing one law; it is about challenging a global system that selectively values human life.

Every petition, every post, every conversation matters. We must demand transparency from global institutions and remind them that progress without principles is no progress at all.

Our dignity is not up for negotiation. Our rights are not loans to be approved. They are the foundation of every free and just society.