Dpe a Ugandan ban on same-sex relatnships, gay rights activist Isaac Mugisha spearheads efforts to anize an annual gay pri ftival the East Ain untry. In a Q&A wh GPJ, Mugisha says attus are begng to change, but there are still many challeng.
Contents:
- NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
- GAY AND PROUD UGANDA
- ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
- CELEBRATG GAY PRI UGANDA: ‘WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WE’RE NOT ALIENS’
- GAY PRI CALENDAR
- UGANDA HOLDS FIRST PRI PARA SCE ANTI-GAY LAW WAS OVERTURNED
- UGANDAN GAYS HOLD PRI PARA
- Q&A: GAY RIGHTS LEAR PLANS PRI FTIVAL UGANDA
- A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
- UGANDA: POLICE STOP GAY PRI PARA EMED ILLEGAL
- 100 PEOPLE ATTEND UGANDA GAY PRI PARA
NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)
The overturng of an extreme anti-gay law Uganda this month allows for a particularly special pri para. * uganda gay pride parade *
In Uganda, where beg gay is still a crime, Pri is a celebratn, but is still most fely a prott. SecuryUganda is one of the almost 70 untri where beg gay is a crime. 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.
GAY AND PROUD UGANDA
Sr of Ugandan gays and their supporters are holdg a gay pri para on a beach the laki town of Entebbe. The para is their first public event sce a Ugandan urt validated an anti-gay law that was wily nmned by some Wtern ernments and rights watchdogs.(AP Photo/Rebec Vassie) * uganda gay pride parade *
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. 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.
ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
Up to 2,000 protters stormed a gay pri ftival, a untry where anti-LGBT prejudice is mon. * uganda gay pride parade *
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. Today, homosexualy is simply not accepted by the majory of Ain cizens. Ultimately, will not matter how many urt s are won, or ernments prsured to cease anti-gay legislatn, or Ain lears backed by wtern money and tn elected wh the expectatn they will challenge public perceptns of homosexualy.
CELEBRATG GAY PRI UGANDA: ‘WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WE’RE NOT ALIENS’
* uganda gay pride parade *
Most Ains are refg to accept homosexualy not so much bee of their Christian beliefs, but bee they perceive as a “Wtern value” beg forcefully phed upon their societi by malignant and vasive outsi forc. Wh our youthful populatn, so many young, knowledgeable Ugandans, who do not rry strong anti-gay sentiments, and even support LGBTQI rights, are jog the electoral roll every electn cycle.
Two years after our legal victory agast the “Kill the gays bill”, the Ugandan electorate had reward me for my efforts by turfg me out of parliament at the 2016 general electn.
Among those rejected at the polls this year was the MP whose anti-gay private members bill brought this issue back to parliament.
GAY PRI CALENDAR
Ugandan police have prevented anizers om holdg a gay pri para on the orrs of a ernment mister who says such an event is illegal. * uganda gay pride parade *
Another was our untry’s opposn lear, Bob We, who began his polil reer 2014 sgg pop songs about burng homosexuals.
Will Uganda pass another law crimalisg homosexualy the future?
The parliament that voted for last month’s anti-gay bill is now replaced. And the current ernment clearly has no tentn to die on the hill of crimalisg homosexualy.
UGANDA HOLDS FIRST PRI PARA SCE ANTI-GAY LAW WAS OVERTURNED
Entebbe, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan police on Saturday prevented anizers om holdg a gay pri para on the orrs of a ernment mister who said such an event is illegal. Police blocked anizers om stagg the event at two lotns outsi the Ugandan pal, Kampala, said Frank Mugisha, a gay rights lear Uganda. * uganda gay pride parade *
No, Uganda is not makg illegal to be gay (aga). But beg gay is still not socially acceptable the untry – nor, realy, is anywhere Ai. “Can you image that the worst place the world to be gay is havg Gay Pri?
” Kasha Jacquele Nabagera asked a crowd of cheerg gay men, lbians, transgenred men and women, and queers somewhere between.
UGANDAN GAYS HOLD PRI PARA
A barrage of media verage has pated the untry as a hell for gays—a place where they are sufferg and beg attacked nstantly—and, spe the need to bat such threats, L. I’ve spent a uple of months this year workg on a story about gay rights here, as an Alicia Patterson Foundatn fellow, and was surprised to see that the narrative had ma yet another unexpected turn. Though activists are the middle of a lawsu they filed agast ethics and tegry mister Simon Lokodo, who has been on a zealo effort to shut down all gay-advocy workshops and non-profs allied wh L.
Q&A: GAY RIGHTS LEAR PLANS PRI FTIVAL UGANDA
I met people like Akram, who operat a “gay-vio library. ” Activist Frank Mugisha, who appeared drsed a sailor’s stume wh a rabow sash and lled himself Capta Pri, told me, “I jt wish I had a swch to turn on that would make everyone who’s gay say they are gay. Then everyone who is homophobic n realize their brothers, their sisters, and their nts are gay.
” He nfsed that he was shocked to see so many people the para began, a nvoy of marchers and rs blastg more mic, people held up signs like “Ain and Gay. The marchers chanted, “We are here” (a reference to those who say that there are no gays Ai), and danced and sang a chos that was at once movg and excg unr a rastorm of ribbons and flags. Hours after the para end, police raid the gatherg, supposedly bee they had heard a gay weddg was takg place, and arrted three participants, taed a photographer, and mand statements om others, remdg all of the threats that gays still face.
One participant, Ambrose, who was charge of sellg Pri-themed T-shirts, explaed that the dynamics of beg gay Uganda have changed: “This is who we are. Iranian Print Ebrahim Raisi this week praised his Ugandan unterpart for signg the untry’s Anti-Homosexualy Act.
A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED
“Wtern untri are puttg prsure on pennt untri by attackg the fay foundatn, promotg the ugly phenomenon of homosexualy, the spread of extremism and terrorism, and the e of human rights as a tool, for which the velopment of cultural teractns and cultural operatn between Iran and Uganda will be very effective nontg the plots of the enemi of the two natns, ” said Raisi. Meveni on May 29 signed the Anti-Homosexualy Act that ntas a ath penalty provisn for “aggravated homosexualy.
UGANDA: POLICE STOP GAY PRI PARA EMED ILLEGAL
Advocy groups: Ethpian ernment’s anti-gay rhetoric spurs onle attacks. An advocy group Ethpia has sharply cricized ernment stutns for homophobic statements they say have spurred onle attacks agast LGBTQ and tersex people.
“In a dramatic expansn of the threat of vlence; there have also been lls to kill, burn, and beat up fai of those of who are openly LGBTQIA+ and live abroad orr to make their fai unrstand the ep shame and wound that Ethpian homophob the diaspora feel due to the outspokenns of those openly LGBTQIA+ dividuals, ” reads a statement that Hoe of Guramayle issued this week. A recent study found 97 percent of Ethpians believe homosexualy is a “very harmful way of life that society should not accept” and anyone a same-sex relatnship should be punished. Country’s print May signed Anti-Homosexualy Act.
The World Bank Group on Tuday announced has spend new loans to Uganda rponse to the untry’s Anti-Homosexualy Act. “Uganda’s Anti-Homosexualy Act fundamentally ntradicts the World Bank Group’s valu. The law that Print Yoweri Meveni signed on May 29 ntas a ath penalty provisn for “aggravated homosexualy.
100 PEOPLE ATTEND UGANDA GAY PRI PARA
Then-World Bank Print Jim Yong Kim 2014 postponed a $90 ln loan to the Ugandan ernment rponse to Meveni’s cisn to sign a versn of the Anti-Homosexualy Act that did not nta a ath penalty provisn.
The nference also sought to promote LGBTQ and tersex rights Ai and highlight the severy of homophobia and transphobia on the ntent.