Two Ugandan Women Granted Bail After Being Jailed for a Valentine's Day Kiss
Wendy and Diana spent nearly two months in detention after neighbors reported them for sharing a kiss. They're free on bail — but still face life in prison under Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act.
On February 18, Ugandan police raided a home in Arua, a commercial hub in the country’s northwest, after receiving a complaint from neighbors. Their target: two young women — Wendy, 22, and Diana, 21 — accused of sharing a kiss on Valentine’s Day.
They were arrested and charged under Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, one of the most punitive anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world. For nearly two months, they sat in detention.
On April 9, a court finally granted them bail. They’re home with their families. But the charges haven’t been dropped, and the law under which they were arrested carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations.
What they’re actually charged with
According to court filings, Wendy and Diana face accusations of “practising homosexuality,” involvement in “queer and unusual acts believed to be sexual in nature,” and “openly kissing each other in broad daylight.” The charges stem entirely from a neighbor’s complaint — no victim, no harm, no coercion. Just two women who kissed.
Frank Mugisha, one of Uganda’s most prominent LGBTQ+ rights activists, confirmed that both women are “home with their families in good spirits.” But he cautioned that the case is far from over, with active charges still pending and no clear court date set for the next hearing.
The law behind the charges
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, signed into law in May 2023, escalated an already hostile legal environment into one of the harshest in the world. Same-sex relations were already criminalized under colonial-era laws, but the 2023 act introduced the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and prison sentences of up to 20 years for “promoting” homosexuality.
International condemnation was swift. The World Bank suspended new loans to Uganda. Several European countries reviewed their aid programs. But the law remains in force, and enforcement has intensified since its passage.
The Valentine’s Day arrests are not an isolated incident. Since the law took effect, reports of arrests, evictions, and vigilante violence against LGBTQ+ Ugandans have surged. Human Rights Watch documented cases of people being reported by landlords, family members, and neighbors — often over nothing more than suspicion.
A broader pattern across the continent
Uganda’s crackdown exists within a wider wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation sweeping parts of Africa. In Senegal, parliament recently doubled the maximum prison sentence for same-sex relations to 10 years and criminalized advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. In Ghana, lawmakers have revived a bill that would impose up to three years in prison for identifying as LGBTQ+ and up to 10 years for advocates.
A CNN investigation published in March 2026 traced some of this escalation to the influence of U.S.-based conservative and religious organizations that have been exporting anti-LGBTQ+ messaging and funding to African countries for years. The pattern is well-documented: American evangelical groups build relationships with local political and religious leaders, provide legal frameworks for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and fund campaigns to pass them.
What comes next
Amnesty International’s East Africa office has called for the charges against Wendy and Diana to be dropped and for the Anti-Homosexuality Act to be repealed. Mugisha and other advocates have echoed that demand.
But repeal seems unlikely in the current political climate. President Yoweri Museveni, who signed the law, has shown no indication of reversing course. And with elections approaching, few Ugandan politicians are willing to be seen as sympathetic to LGBTQ+ rights.
For now, Wendy and Diana wait. They’re free, but their freedom is conditional — bound by bail terms and the looming possibility of a trial that could send them to prison for the rest of their lives. All because they kissed.
Their case is a reminder of what criminalization actually looks like on the ground: not abstract legal debates, but real people whose lives are upended by laws designed to punish them for existing.
