[2] A special motion to introduce the bill was passed a month after a two-day conference was held in which three Christians from the United States asserted that homosexuality is a direct threat to the cohesion of African families.

Others more specifically claim that such legislative actions are the result of politicized homophobia, a rhetorical tool used to further the interests of political leaders in the form of gaining popularity and/or distracting from corrupt behaviour.

[18][19][12][13][20] In some areas, male homosexuality was age-stratified, similar to ancient Greece where warriors purchased boys as brides, common when women were not available, or manifested as fleeting encounters as in prostitution.

[25] Like the conditions in many other African nations, gays in Uganda face an atmosphere of physical abuse, vandalism of their property, blackmail, death threats, and "corrective rape".

[26][27] From 5 to 8 March 2009, a workshop organised by the Family Life Network, led by Ugandan Stephen Langa, and entitled "Seminar on Exposing the Homosexuals' Agenda" took place in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

According to Kaoma, one of the thousands of Ugandans in attendance announced during the conference, "[The parliament] feels it is necessary to draft a new law that deals comprehensively with the issue of homosexuality and ... takes into account the international gay agenda....

Lively then wrote in his blog that Langa was "overjoyed with the results of our efforts and predicted confidently that the coming weeks would see significant improvement in the moral climate of the nation, and a massive increase in pro-family activism in every social sphere.

Julian Pepe, a program coordinator for Sexual Minorities Uganda, said that people named in the story were living in fear and that attacks have begun, prompting many to abandon their jobs and others to relocate.

[38][39] The high court of Uganda ordered Rolling Stone to stop publishing images of gay and lesbian people after David Kato and several others sued the paper.

the unlicensed conversion therapist Richard A. Cohen, who stated in Coming Out Straight, a book that was given to Langa and other prominent Ugandans, that homosexuals were more likely to molest children.

[41][42][43] In April 2009, the Ugandan Parliament passed a resolution allowing MP David Bahati to submit a private member's bill in October to strengthen laws against homosexuality.

Initially, however, Buturo stated that the government was determined to pass the bill "even if meant withdrawing from international treaties and conventions such as the UN's Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and forgoing donor funding", according to an interview in The Guardian.

National Youth MP Monica Amoding told The Observer that some MPs on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee proposed the move because of the sensitive nature of the bill.

[70] Scott Lively, who presides the anti-LGBT group Abiding Truth Ministries, disagreed with the bill, saying "I agree with the general goal but this law is far too harsh.... Society should actively discourage all sex outside of marriage and that includes homosexuality....

[81] Uganda's Catholic Archbishop of Kampala Cyprian Kizito Lwanga stated in December 2009 that the bill was unnecessary and "at odds with the core values" of Christianity, expressing particular concerns at the death penalty provisions.

[82] Pope Benedict XVI received the Ugandan ambassador in Rome in December 2009 and commended the climate of freedom and respect in the country towards the Catholic Church.

"[86] Certain US evangelists who are active in Africa have been accused of being responsible for inspiring the bill by inciting hatred by comparing homosexuality to paedophilia and influencing public policy with donations from US religious organisations.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported, "The protesters, led by born-again clerics, cultural leaders, and university undergraduates, marched to the parliament where they presented a petition.

"[95] A US diplomat, whose confidential communiques were exposed through WikiLeaks, wrote that the political and economic problems in Uganda were being channeled into "violent hatred" of gay people and that Bahati, Ssempa, and Buturo were primarily responsible for promoting the wave of intolerance.

[102] Dirk Niebel, the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that financial aid to Uganda will be cut, with a stepwise plan for this having already been made.

[103] The White House released a statement in December 2009, to The Advocate, stating that US President Barack Obama "strongly opposes efforts, such as the draft law pending in Uganda, that would criminalize homosexuality and move against the tide of history".

[107] Elizabeth Mataka, the UN Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, said that the bill would dissuade people from getting tested for HIV if they could be punished subsequently with the death penalty.

[37] Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the bill, calling it a product of a campaign by evangelical churches and anti-gay groups that has led to death threats and physical assaults against Ugandans suspected of being gay.

[109] One of the first newspaper editorials condemning the bill was from the South African paper The Sunday Times, which warned that Uganda was in danger of being "dragged back to the dark and evil days of Idi Amin".

Foster, writing in The Los Angeles Times, focused on the paradox of the majority of Africans' belief that homosexuality as a Western affectation while simultaneously being influenced by US conservative evangelical dogma.

[115] An editorial in The Australian, said, "It would be wrong ... to believe that the Ugandan case is simply a matter of national self-determination clashing with Western sensibilities", and stated that it is "cultural relativism at play in Uganda, not pluralism that is at the root of human rights violations such as the ones in the proposed legislation there."

The Australian stated, "It is easy to stand up for universal values of liberty against a small nation in east Africa; yet are we prepared to do so against more formidable powers that abuse the human rights of their citizens?

"[117] On 26 January 2011, Uganda's most prominent gay activist, David Kato, was bludgeoned to death by Sidney Nsubuga Enoch, who was later convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison with hard labor.

In 2014, LGBT+ rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema of SMUG denounced the law directly inciting hate crimes, such as violence and murder, against members of the LGBT community.

[121][122] A 13 August 2014 news report, however, said that the Ugandan attorney general had dropped all plans to appeal, per a directive from President Museveni who was concerned about foreign reaction to the act and who also said that any newly introduced bill should not criminalize same-sex relationships between consenting adults.