Where international relations and social issues intersect, there is bound to be a mess. Each issue is complicated and messy enough individually, let alone when they come together. A new law in Uganda is proving just how messy the intersection of international relations and social issues can be.
In February, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill that calls for the punishment of mercenary homosexual prostitution and the exhibition of sexual acts. News of this “anti-gay” bill spread quickly and many western governments have sought to punish Uganda for this legislation. The World Bank is now withholding a $90 million loan originally intended for maternal health, newborn care and family planning. Other nations, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway also cut aid funding or redirected the funds to civil society. The latest actions by a Western government in response to the law come from the United States.
The United States is imposing sanctions on Uganda in response to the passage of the law. These sanctions include restricting the entry of certain Ugandan individuals into the United States, removing funding for the Uganda Police Force, redirecting financial assistance from the Ministry of Health, and cancelling a joint AFRICOM military aviation exercise. Again and again the White House and State Department seek to couch this new law in Uganda as an affront to “universal human rights,” and continues to allege that egregious violations of these human rights is taking place because of this new law. However, no international community has ever recognized homosexual behavior as a human right. Furthermore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the only human rights document ever agreed to on a large scale, contains no mention whatsoever of the terms “homosexual,” “lesbian,” or “gay”. This is not a human rights issue, this is an issue of a politicized social policy.
While the White House claims to support “strong, self-reliant, and prosperous” democracy in Africa, the decision to punish another sovereign state for its social policy begs to differ. Contrary to what some might say and think, the law does not incite violence against those engaging in homosexual behavior. Instead, the law seeks to punish mercenary homosexual prostitution and the exhibition of sexual acts, in order to protect society from dangerous Western carelessness. If the U.S. truly cared about helping Africa it would not predicate foreign aid on a sexual agenda or even on the changing, sometimes clashing, principles of Democracy. If the U.S. truly cared about helping Africa is would base its foreign policy on a foundation of right and wrong, a basis of absolute truth; something rather like Holy Scripture. But such are the trials of living in a democracy; absolutes hold far too little influence unless it is the will of an absolute majority.
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