When the Architects of Harm Leave Parliament
Three prominent Ugandan lawmakers associated with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation—David Bahati, Sarah Opendi and Asumani Basalirwa lost their parliamentary seats in the 2026 elections. Their departure does not erase the laws they helped promote. It does not remove the fear, stigma and insecurity experienced by LGBTQ+ people in Uganda. It does not undo the consequences carried by families, health workers, activists and community members.
David Bahati introduced the 2013 Anti-Homosexuality Bill and later supported the 2023 legislation.
Sarah Opendi publicly argued for extreme punishment of LGBTQ+ people.
Asumani Basalirwa introduced the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill and defended the idea that LGBTQ+ people should be treated as a threat rather than as citizens with equal dignity.
The defeat of these lawmakers gives us an opportunity to ask what their time in office meant for the people they were elected to represent.
What if?
What if they did not know how many LGBTQ+ people lived in their communities?
What if some rose in silence and chose not to vote for those who legislated against their dignity?
What if the mothers of LGBTQ+ people stood together and asked that cruel lawmakers never return to the chamber?
What if the brothers, sisters, friends and relatives of LGBTQ+ Ugandans quietly remembered what had been done in their name?
What if every community understood that LGBTQ+ people are not strangers, but sons, daughters, parents, neighbours and friends?
Would punishment still have been called protection? Would exclusion still have been called morality? Would a law built on fear still have been celebrated as justice?
The departure of these MPs is not the end of the struggle. The law remains, and so do the risks faced by LGBTQ+ people and those who support them.
Uganda now needs leadership that reduces fear rather than deepening it. It needs representatives who protect public health, respect human dignity, and understand that no political ambition should depend on sacrificing a vulnerable minority.
At LGBT Rights Uganda Foundation, we will continue to support dignity, truthful information, community connection, and the equal human rights of LGBTQ+ people connected to Uganda.
The people may change in Parliament. Our demand remains the same: laws and leaders must stop treating LGBTQ+ lives as disposable.
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