(LifeSiteNews) — Representatives of the Biden administration confronted Uganda President Yoweri Museveni regarding his and his nation’s positions on LGBT issues during a recent meeting ostensibly meant to discuss trade, hunger, and climate issues, once again highlighting where the White House’s priorities lie.
The Grio reported that in the middle of last month, Museveni met with several members of the U.S. State Department, who took the opportunity to challenge him on Uganda’s criminalization of homosexual acts and same-sex unions. A since-annulled law that Museveni signed in 2014 made intercourse between members of the same sex punishable by life imprisonment.
A source familiar with the exchange told The Grio that in response Museveni maintained that LGBT individuals were “awful” and Uganda’s religious leaders were “fully against them,” but agreed to stop having them arrested.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has placed promotion of respect for the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons — and all persons, as part of strong, inclusive democracy — at the center of its foreign policy,’ a State Department spokesperson told the publication when asked about the meeting. “The United States will continue its efforts to advance democracy and promote respect for human rights and commends the members of civil society in Uganda working at the forefront to raise awareness and seek an end to ongoing human rights abuses.”
Uganda’s hardline stance has long placed it at odds with America and much of Europe. In November, the Ugandans rejected a proposed trade agreement with the European Union over what Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa called “hidden clauses” pertaining to sexuality, “promotion of LGBT/homosexuality,” and abortion. “The EU is demanding that we take a certain route; they should also know the character of our society,” he said at the time.
The adamantly pro-LGBT Biden administration, meanwhile, has been inconsistent in when it will criticize other nations in the name of human rights, most strikingly with its softer approach to Communist China’s subjugation of its Uighur Muslim population and its one-child policy of forced abortion and sterilization.