The fourth annual Pri Uganda ftival took place last week wh a small but vol number of gay pri activists and LGBTI activists takg a stand agast Uganda's Anti-Homosexualy Act, which crimaliz same-sex relatnships wh up to 14 years prison.
Contents:
- GAY PRI UGANDA
- NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
- GAY AND PROUD UGANDA
- A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
- CELEBRATG GAY PRI UGANDA: ‘WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WE’RE NOT ALIENS’
- THE ARE THE FAC OF GAY PRI UGANDA
GAY PRI UGANDA
Homosexualy is taboo almost all Ain untri and illegal most cludg Uganda, where rights groups say gay people have long risked jail. Fear of vlence, imprisonment and loss of jobs means few gays Ai e out. * gay pride uganda *
The bill, passed by the untry’s legislature and signed by Print Yoweri Meveni, dol out the ath penalty for “aggravated homosexualy, ” which clus sex wh a mor, ct and havg sex while HIV posive. The law mak illegal not to report the so-lled perpetrators to the police, outlaws sex tn for the gay muny and lls for 20-year sentenc for those engaged “promotg” homosexualy (same-sex relatns were already prohibed).
“June is pri month, and the bt way to celebrate the history and achievements of gay rights is to stand up to untri actively opprsg the LGBTQ muny, ” Santos told the publitn The Hill this week. Rsian Print Vladimir Put and Che lear Xi Jpg have cracked down on gay rights as part of their thorarianism.
Sadly, Amerin evangelil anizatns have also played a pivotal role promotg anti-gay sentiment the untry. The sub-Saharan natn is not the only one that impos the ath penalty for those nvicted of havg homosexual relatns.
NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
Based on the fact there has been ltle change the untri’ attu toward homosexualy, however, I don’t see that as a more effective rponse.
Bee of secury fears a untry where homosexualy remans illegal and homophobia is wispread, the events are by vatn only. I need to live like a normal Ugandan, ” he year’s Pri cid wh the overturng of a dranian anti-gay law, which lled for homosexuals to be jailed for life. In January a group of MPs were said to be workg on new legislatn to curb gay rights, cludg proposals to punish the “promotn” of homosexualy.
Limbo says that while anecdotal reports of harassment at the hands of police have dropped, the past few months there’s been an upswg gay Ugandans beg ostracised by their fai or their muni. He scrib Uganda as “hell and doom” for anyone who is lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr – a world of curtailed eedom, secln, isolatn and paranoia. ”He was rned wh some of his lleagu to raise the Ugandan flag at gay Pri New York cy June this year, cludg Frank Mugisha, Limbo and Jacquele Kasha, founr of Bombastic, Uganda’s first LGBT paper and Pepe Julian Onziema, named Hero of the Year by Stonewall 2014.
GAY AND PROUD UGANDA
It happened to Limbo twice: first 2013, after which he had to go to hidg for a month, and then aga 2014, when a tabloid splashed his face on the ont ver unr the headle Top Ugandan Gays Speak Out. Mugisha, chair of Sexual Mori Uganda, suffered a siar fate, beg outed as one of Red Pepper’s “top 200 homosexuals” list.
Homosexualy is taboo almost all Ain untri and illegal most cludg Uganda, where rights groups say gay people have long risked jail.
A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
Fear of vlence, imprisonment and loss of jobs means few gays Ai e out. It’s almost a year sce a nstutnal urt overturned legislatn that would have strengthened punishments for anyone ught havg gay sex.
On Saturday Augt 8 members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny Uganda celebrate Gay Pri near the pal Kampala. A march took place an undisclosed lotn, wh people holdg rmatn posters and playg mic about beg gay Uganda. Most of those I met were facg difficult personal stggl, alg wh fay rejectn and ntendg wh a homophobic muny all around them.
While homosexualy is illegal Uganda, many the LGBT muny are more aaid of hostily om their next-door neighbours than om the law. In spe of everythg, I kept hearg that this year’s Gay Pri would be an act of celebratn.
CELEBRATG GAY PRI UGANDA: ‘WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WE’RE NOT ALIENS’
Print Barack Obama’s vol support for gay rights Ai has given them an extra pch of enuragement and zeal to fight reprsive laws. Seven years after an act of parliament ma homosexualy a crime punishable by ath, the anti-gay mpaigners of Uganda are at aga. Last month, the parliament of my untry once aga voted to make homosexualy a crimal offence, this time wh a 10-year prison sentence.
In 2014, I played a small part makg sure that anti-LGBTQI forc Uganda do not succeed wrg their hate to law: I was one of the petners the se that succsfully overturned the famo anti-gay law. The Ugandan ernment will not sign this anti-gay legislatn to law part bee was troduced by an outgog legislator and approved by a now-dissolved parliament. Ined, after Uganda passed the “Kill the gays bill” – as was dubbed lolly – 2014, s reputatn on the ternatnal arena suffered.
Our sovereign cred ratg also took a h due to the passg of the anti-gay law.
THE ARE THE FAC OF GAY PRI UGANDA
While the efforts of LGBTQI mpaigners across the globe ma highly unlikely for Uganda to sign to law another “Kill the gays bill”, the fight for LGBTQI rights the untry and the rt of Ai is far om over. The fear of retaliatn om the ternatnal muny may stop Uganda and other Ain untri om attemptg to officially crimalise homosexualy, but will not make beg gay socially acceptable on the ntent.