My long-awaited opinion on US-Uganda international relations

The US recently suspended Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a trade program that gives aid and preferential trade privileges to African countries.

It seems to be because Uganda has recently passed a law “calling for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex”.

I think this is a bad idea by the US. It’s not likely to make Ugandans treat gay people any better. It makes it harder for Uganda to develop economically. And will drive Uganda closer to the US’s geopolitical rivals.

About the only thing the suspension accomplishes is to make some nice people with consciences feel good that the US is standing up to bigotry (which is good politics for Biden, so it makes sense that he did it).

Obviously I think the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill is bigoted, and awful, and causes tons of pain for LGBT people in Uganda. But it’s not like the US can really do something about this. Because this is not a case of an authoritarian regime doing something against the interest of most of its citizens.

The reality is that the Ugandan public really does not like gay people. 94% of Ugandans say they would “report a family member, close friend, or co-worker to the police if they were involved in a same-sex relationship.” 94% also say they would dislike having a gay person as a neighbor.

Are Ugandan politicians going to change their laws because of what a (important) foreign country says? Or are they going to do what the vast majority of their citizens want?

As I recently read in a book on American foreign policy: “Washington’s ability to force smaller and weaker countries to take steps against the wishes of their leaders is much less extensive than most Americans appreciate.”

So I don’t know how interesting that is to any of you. But at least this lets me feel smug that the history and foreign policy books I’m reading are actually helping me have some concrete opinions on current events.