A society reflects its people, and a broken society reflects its broken people, and the people, in turn, determine what is right and wrong, and in most cases, right and wrong are illogically subjective.

Therefore, in such a society of subjectivity, everything right or logical might be discarded as wrong or unacceptable, and this is what is wrong with Uganda as a country. What certain people consider unfit for themselves, they conclude, is universally unfit. What is ethical for them, they think, is ethical for everyone.

As of today, a stranger might think Ugandans are God’s moral watchguards; we are so good at pointing fingers, ignoring our own stain. We go to churches and mosques every other day; we preach love for one another, while we openly hate those with varying opinions or beliefs; to call it for what it is, holy hate.

In Uganda today, 3,000 to 6,000 mothers die annually from preventable pregnancy-related causes, and, according to UNICEF data, approximately 18 to 29 babies die per 1,000 live births within the first 28 days of life. Not only that, but approximately 2.4 million children suffer from malnutrition. Yet the concerned bodies only speak of these urgent issues in hushed tones. It is indeed heartbreaking that we continue to ignore what we should prioritise in the first place.

On February 18, 2026, as reported by the Daily Monitor, the police in Arua City, West Nile, arrested two ‘adults,’ who were seen kissing in public. And their crime? Practising homosexuality, contrary to Section 2(1)(2) of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023.

It is said that community members reported the two young women (Wendy Faith, 22, and Alesi Diana Denise, 21) to the police, as they had seen them engaging in what they called queer and unusual acts. However critical this might be, it is laughable; the community infringed on the privacy of the two young people, and the police did not bother to ask them how they had seen Wendy and Denise engaging in queer acts, besides kissing.

Also, Arua is no different from the rest of the Ugandan communities grappling with acute poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and poor service delivery, among others. And to strongly come out against two adults in love because they chose what is right for them, because they chose their happiness over societal expectations, ignoring the actual problems, says so much of our people; and what we need, if we are to progress as a country, is an education that focuses on mindset change—a mindset that prioritises the actual priorities.

Unflinchingly, it is hypocritical for Ugandans and the authority altogether to direct their rage towards LGBTQ people, who have been here since time immemorial and continue to be here, while sanitising the actual evil—corruption—that eats up the country from its fabric: Uganda loses roughly USD 2.3 billion to USD 2.6 billion to corruption annually. Have we come out to condemn this? No. Do two people of the same sex kissing or loving each other affect us? Absolutely not. Does corruption affect us? Yes, it does in all ways.

So, while the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, gnaws at us, who have chosen to love whoever we love, unapologetically, as a society, we need introspection. We need to ask ourselves whether Faith and Diana, John and Erick, loving each other, affects our progress and whether their relationship is the cause of Uganda’s tragedies, ranging from a lack of medicine in public hospitals to potholed roads to incessant robberies within and without Kampala, among other atrocities.

But one admissible truth is that LGBTQ people are not aliens; we are your brothers, sons, sisters, and daughters, and subjecting us to oppression of any sort does not portray you as moralists but rather as people who only redefine and emphasise the concept ‘morality’ when it fits their agenda. Sexuality is diverse; a woman loving a woman, or a man loving a man, is the same as a man loving a woman, and to question one’s decision is to deprive oneself of the right to love, and without love, one ceases to live; one only exists.

Also, to my LGBTQ community, while we continue to fight for our rights, while we continue to demand total liberation, we should be cautious of our surroundings, especially with the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, in play. We should not entrust leopards with goats, and when the goats are eaten, we wonder why… Be safe, and do not stop spreading love and reminding the world that we, too, matter. Certainly, tomorrow is certain. We shall be free.