Jenna Ellis, a controversial conservative talk show host and attorney from Colorado, announced on social media this week that she supports the new, highly criticized Ugandan anti-LGBTQ law, which prescribes the death penalty for those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality.”
Ellis is a former legal advisor to President Trump, censured election denier, and a former professor of law, leadership, and ethics at Colorado Christian University, where she taught from 2015-2018.
The term “aggravated homosexuality” is defined in the law as having same-sex relations when HIV-positive, sexual acts conducted with children, disabled individuals, or anyone who cannot consent. Ellis references this part when she agrees with the law but provides no more information on whether she supports or refutes the remainder of the law.
Ellis has a history of issuing contentious comments toward the LGBTQ community. In response to the horrific events at the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs last November, she said, “There is no evidence at all that [the victims] were Christians,” she continued to say that because of their failure to not accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, “they are now reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation.” Ellis made these comments in her show, The Jenna Ellis Show, less than one week after the tragic events in Colorado Springs.
This law follows a trend of homophobia in Africa. Same-sex relationships have already been illegal in Uganda, as in many other African countries, and this new law takes a more aggressive approach to targeting members of the LGBTQ community. In 2014, a similar law was proposed; this law was much harsher, calling for the death penalty for anyone who identified as gay, which was later changed to a life sentence. Ultimately, this version was struck down.
Back then, U.S. Representative Ken Buck (CO-04), another Colorado conservative and member of the House Freedom Caucus, backed out of an event where a Ugandan proponent of that 2014 law on the bill. “I can’t share the stage with someone like that,” Buck said at the time.
The new law now imposes the death penalty for same-sex relations when HIV positive and 20-year sentences for individuals who “promote” homosexuality. The original law was amended again from first criminalizing individuals for identifying as gay to now only listing “engaging in acts of homosexuality” as an offense punishable with life in prison.
The approval of the new anti-LGBTQ law has been met with criticism by many in the West, including Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who tweeted, “This Uganda law is horrific & wrong.” Senator Cruz called for other civilized nations to condemn this law, as he labeled it a “human rights abuse.”
Criticizing Sen. Ted Cruz’s tweet on Monday, Ellis replied, “You can condemn a law that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality without being pro or #LGBTQ. Like Bud Light, you should have just said nothing. Not this.”
Ellis was met with immediate backlash, to which she responded by backing her original statement, “For the commenters – I stand with Uganda on this because the definition of ‘aggravated homosexuality’ (subject to the death penalty) is raping children. Why would Cruz be against this anyway?? And what does this have to do with #LGBTQ? Absolutely stupid comment.”
Ellis does not mention any other aspect of this law, which punishes “attempted homosexuality” with up to ten years, life imprisonment for “the offense of homosexuality,” or even imprisoning children for up to 3 years if convicted of homosexuality. She only addresses this as a ‘child rape’ law as she states in a later tweet mocking her critics and re-framing her stance, writing, “Independent media personality Jenna Ellis openly disagreed with a pro-LGBTQ tweet from Ted Cruz that said the Ugandan penalty for child rape is too harsh.”
A link to this Twitter thread can be found here.
