BEERG Newsletter - Global: Multinationals unhappy with Uganda anti-LGBTQ law

Bloomberg reports that transnational companies including Google and Microsoft have denounced anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda's parliament, warning it would damage the East African country's economy. The Open for Business coalition said the legislation, which criminalises identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, would curb investment flows and deter tourists. The bill awaits President Yoweri Museveni's signature. 

Open for Business said the new law would undermine companies' ability to recruit a diverse and talented workforce, and a provision that mandates employers to report those suspected of being LGBTQ would put them "in an impossible situation," according to Yvonne Muthoni, the coalition's country director in neighbouring Kenya. "Either they violate the law in Uganda or they are going against international standards of corporate responsibility as well as human rights laws of the countries in which they are headquartered," she said. Among the coalition's members, Google, Mastercard, Unilever, Standard Chartered, PwC and Deloitte have operations in Uganda.