Last week, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) praised President Yoweri Museveni and other Ugandan leaders and told them to “stand firm” against pushback from the rest of the world, because of how God is on their side. What pushback was this? Well, it was very, very clearly about the country’s notorious “kill the gays” law, the only thing they are currently facing significant international pressure about that would in any way involve “God.”

Walberg now claims that no one can say he was talking about that particular law, as he did not mention it specifically by name.

However, as that particular rule is in no way binding after the completion of the 8th grade (as per the I Know You Are But What Am I? accords of 1985), his statement definitely counts as support for the law he was very clearly expressing support for.

“I spoke to the fact that they need to stand according to God’s word,” Walberg claimed. “If God’s word says it, then stick to it. Others around the world, including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, maybe even the United States and this administration, will oppose you for various reasons. But if God says it, then stand with it. I did not speak to any law.”

But Walberg was right about one thing — the United States and this administration will oppose Uganda. Not for “various reasons,” but rather for that very specific reason that they have made it a crime to be gay in their country and even impose the death penalty in some cases.

In a December 29 proclamation, President Joe Biden announced that Uganda, along with several other nations, did not qualify as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

“Despite intensive engagement between the United States and the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda, these countries have failed to address United States concerns about their non-compliance with the AGOA eligibility criteria,” he wrote.

While the nation’s horrific 2022 Anti-Homosexuality Act is not specifically mentioned in the proclamation, President Biden explicitly cited Uganda’s human rights issues as it did not qualify as a beneficiary in an October 30 letter to the leaders of these nations:

I am taking this step because I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the AGOA.  Specifically, the Government of the Central African Republic has engaged in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and has not established, or is not making continual progress toward establishing, the protection of internationally recognized worker rights, the rule of law, and political pluralism.  Niger and the Government of Gabon have not established, or are not making continual progress toward establishing, the protection of political pluralism and the rule of law.  Finally, the Government of Uganda has engaged in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. 

(I am legally obligated to point out here, while we are talking about human rights abuses, that even the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty while the US has not, and that we should find this very embarrassing!)

Uganda will simply have to decide if killing people or throwing them in prison for being gay is a luxury that they can afford, or if they would prefer to forego that in favor of economic gains for their nation as a whole.

As an American, I can say that I do happen to prefer it when we do things to curb human rights abuses as opposed to profiting from them or doing nothing at all (or, you know, engaging in them ourselves).

In fact, I have always felt that not only should we not have special trade deals with countries known to engage in serious human rights and labor rights abuses, but that it should be illegal for American companies or anyone who wants to sell anything in the US to do any manufacturing in them. Frankly, I have never been able to fully wrap my head around the fact that we bar trade with Cuba, because communism, but China, also a communist* nation known to engage in horrific human rights and labor rights abuses, including slave labor, is our number one trade partner.

I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy, but I do think, at the very least, we should draw the line at “actual child slaves.”

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As the largest global importer ($3.4 trillion in 2022), we have the ability to effect change in situations like these, and we should flex that muscle when necessary (instead of the ones that involve, you know, killing people or the kind of “sanctions” that only ever hurt the poor). This is a step in the right direction.

*I would argue against the idea that China is actually a communist country, or that there has ever actually been a communist country, but I’m going to assume we’ve all been to enough socialist potlucks to know how that song goes.