Update on the Uganda Anti-homosexuality Act Appeal Hearing

AHRC Staff, March 19, 2026

SMUG reports that according to official court directions issued by the Registrar, the Supreme Court of Uganda has scheduled the hearing of the appeal challenging the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 for 31 March 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

"While the outcome remains in the hands of the Court, the hearing is a reminder that efforts toward justice for the LGBTQ community continue."

In April 2024, Uganda’s Constitutional Court issued its ruling in consolidated petitions challenging the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023. The Court upheld the vast majority of the Act’s provisions, including criminal penalties targeting same-sex conduct and so-called “promotion” of homosexuality, while striking down only limited procedural or ancillary provisions.

The Court’s decision confirmed the continued legality of one of the most punitive anti-LGBTI legislative frameworks globally, including provisions carrying life imprisonment, and also the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” 

Following this ruling, a coalition of Ugandan human rights defenders and civil society organizations, including activists associated with Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) filed a formal appeal to the Supreme Court of Uganda in July 2024, seeking to overturn the Constitutional Court’s decision on constitutional and human rights grounds.

The current legal posture is that the Anti-Homosexuality Act remains fully operative and enforceable, while its constitutionality is under this adjudication, and Ugandans continue to suffer an escalation in the violence that this law serves to encourage, causing many to flee the country.