Ted Cruz Doubles Down on Condemnation of ‘Barbaric Ugandan Law’ Criminalizing Homosexuality After Being Compared to Bud Light
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stood by his condemnation of a new Ugandan law imposing harsh penalties for homosexual relations on Tuesday morning despite comparisons between himself and Bud Light made by critics on his right flank.
On Memorial Day, Cruz quote-tweeted a New York Times article about the law, stating that “This Uganda law is horrific & wrong. Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is grotesque & an abomination.”
“ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse. #LGBTQ,” he added. The bill would impose up to 10 years in prison for anyone who engages in same-sex relations, a life sentence on those who have gay sex, and the death penalty for “acts of same-sex relations with children or disabled people, those carried out under threat or while someone is unconscious,” which the bill calls “aggravated homosexuality.”
One of the Cruz’s harshest critics was Jenna Ellis, the disgraced attorney who assisted former president Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“You can condemn a law that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality without being pro or #LGBTQ,” commented Ellis. “Like Bud Light, you should have just said nothing. Not this.”
She continued: “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.”
Later, she described herself as objecting to “a pro-LGBTQ tweet from Ted Cruz that said the Ugandan penalty for child rape is too harsh.” Cruz responded by charactering Ellis’s position as “ridiculous.”
“Jenna, not sure why you’re defending this barbaric Ugandan law,” he replied. “It imposes life imprisonment for consenting adults who engage in gay sex. That’s ridiculous. You or I may or may not agree with their choices, but consenting adults should not go to jail for what they do in their own bedrooms.”
Jenna, not sure why you’re defending this barbaric Ugandan law.
It imposes life imprisonment for consenting adults who engage in gay sex. That’s ridiculous.
You or I may or may not agree with their choices, but consenting adults should not go to jail for what they do in their… https://t.co/RFeAjqKWJK
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 30, 2023
Last year, Cruz affirmed that he still believed marriage to be a heterosexual union, but conceded that “reasonable people can disagree” on the subject. Although he believes Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage nationally was wrongly decided, Cruz has cast doubt on the idea that the precedent it set would be overturned.
“You’ve got a ton of people who have entered into gay marriages, and it would be more than a little chaotic for the court to do something that somehow disrupted those marriages that have been entered into in accordance with the law,” argued Cruz in a 2022 podcast. “That would be a factor that would counsel restraint.”
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