This photo of Uganda’s politician, Bobi Wine, sparked uproar on the internet. It shows Bobi Wine posing for a photo, next to a banner with the rainbow flag.
Background
The rainbow flag is a symbol used by the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans-gender, Queer and Inter-sex (LGBTQI) community.
Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan politician. He served as a member of parliament for Kyadondo East constituency, as well as became a presidential candidate for the 2021 general election in Uganda. He has previously been quoted by various media houses giving his stance on the LGBTQ community. In a publication by the Daily Monitor, in 2014 and a broadcast by South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) in 2019, Bobi Wine says that while he respects every person’s rights, he does not necessarily agree with the community.
“I think all human beings are human beings and all human rights are human rights,” he said, “Leadership and indeed respect for rights, is the ability to guard one’s rights even when you don’t agree with them.”
Bobi Wine
Verification
The most relevant result on Google shows a tweet by Bobi Wine, pictured beside the banner that was evidently altered.
The edited photo of Bobi Wine was adjusted to include- the rainbow flag, the text “#homosexualrights”, the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) logo, and the “I support LGBTQ Rights’ badge. However, two aspects of this altered banner were retained from the original, these are the texts “ #withafrica” and the “www.withafrica.eu”. See screengrab below;
This year, the Socialists and Democrats Africa Week conference was held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The conference, which focuses on progressive discussions on EU-African relations, hosted European and African personalities, politicians and representatives from civil societies. Social media posts show Bobi Wine attending this conference. Right from his tweet to tweets shared on the Socialists and Democrats Twitter account. None show Bobi Wine pictured beside a banner with the rainbow flag.
Moreover, in a tweet, Bobi Wine shared original images of this and past fabricated images, claiming to show him endorsing the LGBTQ community.
Verdict
The image showing Bobi Wine allegedly endorsing the LGBTQ community is DOCTORED.
This fact-check was edited by Piga Firimbi Fact-Checking Editor Linda Ngari.
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