Uganda: MPs claim adult diapers are “promoting homosexuality”

In the height of lunacy, MPs in Uganda have demanded that a tax be imposed on adult diapers because they believe that they are primarily used by gay men. They also argued that not doing so would be “promoting homosexuality.”

Local media reported that a heated debate erupted in the country’s parliament last week over the proposed introduction of a 0.5 percent tax on diapers.

The Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 recommended taxing children’s diapers but exempting adult diapers. The Finance Committee opposed the taxation on adult diapers on the basis that they are used by elderly individuals and adults with medical conditions.

Some MPs, however, argued that all diapers should be taxed as the tax exemption would benefit members of the LGBTIQ+ community.

They presumably based these views on stereotypes and false narratives perpetuated by anti-LGBTIQ+ conservative groups that gay men suffer from high rates of incontinence because they engage in receptive penetrative sex.

“We just passed the [Anti-]Homosexuality Bill here, and you know for a fact that the biggest number of people who use diapers for adults are actually homosexual people,” MP Aisha Kabanda reportedly said. “So, when you say diapers for adults, you are going to benefit, to a big extent, the homosexuals.”

MP Agnes Kirabo agreed, telling her colleagues that “These adult diapers could be a result of homosexuals. If we do not tax them, we are going to be promoting homosexuality.”

The legislators ultimately approved the bill’s tax on all diapers, rejecting the proposal to exempt adult diapers.

The Ugandan Parliament passed a second version of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill on 2 May, with only minimal changes to its original inhumane and extreme penalties.

The bill retained its most severe provisions, including life in prison for engaging in a homosexual sexual act, the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality (e.g. serial “offenders”), and 20 years in prison for the “promotion” of homosexuality.

The bill now awaits President Yoweri Museveni’s signature for it to become law.