US denies visa to Ugandan MP who called for homosexual castration

Source: The Guardian

US denies visa to Ugandan MP who called for homosexual castration

Activists welcome sanction on Sarah Achieng Opendi and other legislators against a backdrop of anti-LGBTQ+ oppression in Africa

Samuel Okiror in Kampala
Wed 6 Mar 2024 12.47 GMT
Last modified on Wed 6 Mar 2024 12.51 GMT

The Ugandan MP Sarah Achieng Opendi, who called for homosexuals to be castrated during a parliamentary debate on the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws has been denied a visa to attend a UN meeting in New York next week.

Opendi expressed “shock” after the US embassy in Kampala rejected her application to travel to the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women , pending “administrative” review.

“Ninety-six per cent of MPs voted in favour of the bill and I am aware of a number of MPs that have gotten visas to the US yet they supported the bill,” said Opendi, the chair of Uganda Women Parliamentary Association.

A US state department spokesperson said they cannot discuss individual visa cases.

In December, the US imposed visa restrictions on hundreds of Ugandan lawmakers and their families over their involvement in the legislation, ...

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/06/us-denies-visa-to-ugandan-mp-who-called-for-homosexual-castration