Debating Decriminalization, the Rights of LGBT Individuals and HIV/Aids in David Bahati’s Uganda
21 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2020
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
A quick Google search of Ugandans on the Internet will unveil the following hits: ‘Idi Amin” (Uganda’s notorious dictator who ruled the country from 1971 to 1979) = 2,340,000, placing him as perhaps the highest Web-ranked of all Ugandan personalities—living or dead; ‘Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’ (Uganda’s president since 1986) = 1,750,000, and ‘David Bahati’ = 567,000. Although standing well below the first two, Bahati’s significant presence on the Web raises a number of questions: Who is David Bahati? Why and how has he garnered such a presence and what does it say about events in Uganda and elsewhere in the world? Finally, how and why would David Bahati’s presence on the Web attract academic attention, especially with respect to a discussion about the decriminalization of homosexuality and the issue of HIV/AIDS in Uganda? This article is a response to these questions and to several other concerns about law, politics and sexuality in a postcolony.
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