Appeals court upholds refusal to register gay rights company
What you need to know:
- Justice Catherine Bamugemereire reasoned that URSB acted within the law to disallow the name SMUG as proposed because it is not in doubt that the SMUG is associated with the promotion and protection of the rights of LGBT which are prohibited in Uganda.
The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) to refuse to reserve and register Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) under the company laws.
In the majority decision, a three-member panel of judges ruled that the registrar rightly declined to reserve the name SMUG because the said company was being formed to advocate for the rights and well-being of lesbians and gay persons who engage in activities labelled criminal under Section 145 of the Penal Code Act.
Justice Catherine Bamugemereire reasoned that URSB acted within the law to disallow the name SMUG as proposed because it is not in doubt that the SMUG is associated with the promotion and protection of the rights of LGBT which are prohibited in Uganda.
“This appeal was not about abrogating any particular behaviour in our society. I have already found that the appeal was on name reservation. The learned trial judge did not err when she found that the respondent (URSB) was justified in its decision taken in the public interest,” she ruled in the lead judgement.
Other justices were Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera and Christopher Gashirabake.
In June 2018, Justice Patricia Basaza of the High Court held that URSB was justified in its decision to decline to reserve SMUG which was taken in the public interest within the ambit of Article 43 of the Constitution.
The complainants; Frank Mugisha, Dennis Wamala and Joanita Mary Ssenfuka had appealed against the decision of the High Court that dismissed their claim for violation of their human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the law.
Through their lawyers, the trio had faulted the High Court for ruling that the association for unlawful purposes and practices by LGBT persons is prohibited in Uganda, and speculating that SMUG through its objectives was to promote behaviours that contravene section 145 of the Penal Code Act.
Court documents indicate that three persons applied to the URSB for reservation of the name Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) with a view of incorporating it as a Company Limited by guarantee.
URSB however declined to reserve the name by way of letter on grounds that the name was against public policy and labeled criminal under Section 145 of the Penal Code Act.
The group still waits on the decision of the Constitutional Court in the petition challenging the legality of the Anti-homosexuality Law that was enacted in May 2023.
The Anti- Homosexuality Act, of 2023 prescribes tough penalties for various offences including participating in promotion, facilitation and failure to report acts of homosexuality.
Penalties range from death for aggravated homosexuality, to imprisonment not exceeding 20 years.
