The passage of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 by President Yoweri Museveni has caused a gigantic escalation of tensions between the hyper-conservative East African nation and its Western "allies." Formerly referred to as "The Kill The Gays" bill, the law underwent a minor change after worldwide uproar. Now instead of getting the death penalty for having gay sex, Ugandan authorities now have the authority to sentence you to life in prison instead. Oh, how thoughtful. 

Naturally, this bill became a worldwide talking point and drew responses from European heads of state, U.S. President Barack Obama and celebrities such as noted gay rights activist George Takei. While the hardcore Christian right may secretly be celebrating the passage of this bill (after all their anti-gay thoughts are getting walloped stateside) most sane individuals are horrified at the hate this bill promotes.

To make matters much, much worse Ugandan tabloids are making a pretty penny outing gay people, or straight people they just want to smear, in their publications. Now in America getting outed is a terrible thing that could very well subject oneself to ridicule and the loss of a job, but in Uganda getting outed might literally mean getting raped, shamed, and bludgeoned to death. 

French telecommunications company Orange was a big advertiser in arguably Uganda's most salacious and anti-gay tabloid Red Pepper. But on Thursday, March 6, 2014 Orange stepped up to the plate and denounced its ties with Red Pepper. 

Orange allied itself with the LGBT community and put as much distance between it and the Ugandan news media as possible. It leveraged the power of social media in doing so by tweeting the following:

"We'd like to inform you that Orange concluded the contract with Red Pepper since 6 March 2014."

Other advertisers are sure to follow Orange's lead. Of course, it's impossible to know if this decision was done purely out of the goodness of the telecom giant's hearts, or if it was mostly a monetary decision, but either way it's a good first step in showing Uganda that the calendar reads 2014 and not 1814.

Do you think more companies should boycott Uganda and its out-of-control government? Let us know in the comments section below.