Gay and Proud Uganda | The New Yorker

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)

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

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.

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.

ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS

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. 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.

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.

CELEBRATG GAY PRI UGANDA: ‘WE WANT TO SHOW THAT WE’RE NOT ALIENS’

And the current ernment clearly has no tentn to die on the hill of crimalisg homosexualy. No, Uganda is not makg illegal to be gay (aga).

GAY PRI CALENDAR

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. 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.

UGANDA HOLDS FIRST PRI PARA SCE ANTI-GAY LAW WAS OVERTURNED

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.

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.

UGANDAN GAYS HOLD PRI PARA

” 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.

Q&A: GAY RIGHTS LEAR PLANS PRI FTIVAL UGANDA

“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. 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.

A NEW ANTI-GAY LAW UGANDA LLS FOR LIFE PRISON FOR THOSE WHO ARE NVICTED

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. 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.

UGANDA: POLICE STOP GAY PRI PARA EMED ILLEGAL

The nference also sought to promote LGBTQ and tersex rights Ai and highlight the severy of homophobia and transphobia on the ntent.

The World Bank Group timat the enomic st of homophobia and transphobia on the ntent amounts to $14 billn a year due to lost productivy, health re and tn.

Dpe the harrowg experienc some of the legat shared, the nference highlighted some of the posive stris that some Ain untri have unrtaken to bat homophobia and transphobia. (Homosexualy remas crimalized Mri. Ugandan Print Yoweri Meveni on May 29 signed his Anti-Homosexualy Act, which ntas a ath penalty provisn for “aggravated homosexualy.

100 PEOPLE ATTEND UGANDA GAY PRI PARA

“Türk warned agast retrogrsn om Uganda’s mments unr the ternatnal human rights treati has ratified, cludg the passage of the eply discrimatory and harmful anti-homosexualy law, that is already havg a negative impact on Ugandans, ” said the U. Uganda’s lbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and tersex (LGBTI) muny is preparg for s annual gay pri para, takg place on Saturday 8 Augt.

This year’s event has special signifince – ’s been a year sce the ntroversial anti-gay law was scrapped. The gural gay pri march was held the cy of Entebbe, some 20 south of the pal Kampala, 2012. That was also the year the anti-homosexualy bill was tabled.