A Republican House member spoke in support of a Ugandan law that doles out a death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’
By Madison Hall
On December 28, 2023
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
- In May, Uganda enacted a law letting courts give the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
- The law’s been heavily criticized by humanitarian organizations and even Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
- One GOP House member, though, traveled to the country in October to voice his support for the law.
A Republican member of the House of Representatives spoke in support of a Ugandan law that provides the death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.”
The Young Turks uncovered earlier in December that Rep. Tim Walberg, who’s represented Michigan in Congress since 2011, made the speech in October in Uganda at a national prayer breakfast with the country’s president in attendance.
In his speech, Walberg, a former pastor, railed against “the World Health Organization, or the United Nations, or sadly some in our administration in America” that have been outspoken against a new Ugandan law from May criminalizing homosexuality.
The law not only allows for 20-year sentences for “promoting homosexuality,” but also stipulates death for “serial offenders.”
The representative also spoke at length about his disdain for the idea of transgender people existing at all.
“I’ve been told all throughout COVID and everything else, ‘Follow the science,'” Walberg said. “But when they come to understanding that there’s male and female and God created it, that science and to lie to our children, to groom our children, to think that they can determine whatever they want… That’s not science.”
He added that “Your esteemed president, his excellence President Musevini, needs a nation that stands with him and says, ‘though the rest of the world is pushing back on you, though there are other major countries that are trying to get into you and ultimately change you: Stand firm. Stand firm.'”
Though Walberg supports Uganda’s anti-LGBT law, one notable member of Congress, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, spoke out against it online after it was enacted.
Walberg’s speaking arrangement in October wasn’t the first time he’s pushed back against LGBT rights. The representative was a cosponsor of a 2015 bill trying to amend the US Constitution to formally declare that marriages are only between men and women and allow states to not recognize same-sex marriages.
The bill was never brought to a floor vote. Months after it was introduced, the Supreme Court ruled that every state had to recognize and perform same-sex marriages in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case.
Less than a month later, Walberg cosponsored another piece of legislation, this time in an attempt to have the House formally declare its opposition to the high court’s ruling. That bill was also never brought to the floor for a vote.
This piece was republished from Business Insider.