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The decision was greeted with dismay by opponents of the law, although the five-judge bench did strike out several provisions it said were inconsistent with international rights conventions.

These included provisions making it an offense to fail to report homosexual acts, to lease premises for such acts, or if someone engaging in homosexual sex led the other to contract a terminal illness.

“The court delivered the summary judgment, declining to nullify Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law. We disagree with the findings but look forward to receiving their detailed reasoning and consulting on our next steps. To base a decision on public sentiments, purported cultural values, and unfounded/unsubstantiated allegations of recruitment into homosexuality is strange, to say the least. You come to court expecting it to rise above public bigotry and sentiments. To that extent, it is a letdown, but we will see what next steps can be taken.”

It seems the Judges may have created new convenient theory for adjudicating constitutionality. But let us wait for the written decision. What is clear is that by striking down the duty to report clause, the Judges were seeking to protect the average Ugandan who would become criminals if they did not report known homosexuals. Doctors, teachers, parents, preachers and judges and hence the general populace are saved from being criminalized under the AHA, but not LGBTI people who will now feel an even greater surge in all the horrendous persecution that the law serves to license.

Currently many LGBTQI Ugandans are seeking relocation or have fled the country seeking asylum or refugee mandates as the case may be. There are not enough pathways, resources or durable solutions to cover the enormous crisis that has developed. Most forcibly displaced LGBTI people have nowhere to escape to except to cross the border into neighboring countries such as Kenya, or Zambia where they are also criminalized based on their SOGIESC.

In these countries the governments are closing down the registration process for LGBTQI people flocking into their countries. The conditions are becoming increasingly dangerous. This Constitutional Court ruling will serve to continue to embolden both state and non-state actors in the ongoing violence and persecution perpetrated against Uganda’s LGBTI community.

At African Human Rights Coalition we are receiving many requests daily for help from people claiming attacks, firings, evictions, in Uganda. Our resources  at AHRC are small and running extremely low. We have to turn away many people.

We urge  the U.S. Government and others to bring harsher measures to bear on Uganda. Any global community that sanctioned South Africa’s Apartheid regime – should bring the full consequences now to Uganda, before this case hits the Supreme Court. Countries should not wait any longer. The time for being measured has passed. Failing strong action encourages the other African countries to carry out their current threats to bring harsher anti-homosexuality laws. Lest we forget that President Museveni of Uganda called on all African leaders to help rid the world of homosexuality when he signed the AHA into law.