‘I have to lie low. I’m totally on edge’: Uganda’s club scene fears anti-gay law | Mic | The Guardian

Contents:

• SCULPTOR LEILAH BABIRYE: ‘IN UGANDA YOU N BE JAILED FOR TALKG ABOUT GAY ISSU’
• ‘I HAVE TO LIE LOW. I’M TOTALLY ON EDGE’: UGANDA’S CLUB SCENE FEARS ANTI-GAY LAW
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• UGANDAN PRINT SIGNS ANTI-GAY LAW THAT INCLUS DEATH PENALTY AS A PUNISHMENT
• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• TOP UGANDAN GAY ACTIVIST RENOUNC HOMOSEXUALY
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)

SCULPTOR LEILAH BABIRYE: ‘IN UGANDA YOU N BE JAILED FOR TALKG ABOUT GAY ISSU’

Ugandan paper publish a list of the untry's 'Top 200 homosexuals' the day after the untry brgs harsh anti-gay lawRed Pepper tabloid published nam and some pictur of 'homosexuals'List of 'top 200' clud some people who had not e out as gayList, prted unr headle 'EXPOSED!

One, David Kato, was eventually killed early 2011News the day after tough new law on homosexualy was signedThe US says is reviewg s donatns to Uganda as a rult Published: 10:23 BST, 25 Febary 2014 | Updated: 17:22 BST, 25 Febary 2014 A Ugandan newspaper has published a list of the untry's 'top 200' homosexuals a day after the print enacted harsh anti-gay Red Pepper, a Ugandan tabloid, ran the nam of 200 people claims are homosexuals, cludg several who have not prevly e out as gay, unr the headle 'EXPOSED! 'The list clus proment Ugandan gay activists such as Pepe Julian Onziema, as well as a popular Ugandan hip-hop star and a Catholic down for vio The Red Pepper, a tabloid Uganda, has prted the nam of 200 people acc of beg homosexuals on s ont page The list, which appears unr the headle EXPOSED!, featur nam of people not prevly intified as gay The news on the day after Ugandan print Yoweri Meveni signed a bill to law which punish 'aggravated homosexualy' wh life prison. A proment Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, was killed after the Rollg Stone newspaper - which has no affiliatn wh the Amerin magaze - lled for him to be 2011 the then-edor said he had 'no regrets' over the article, as was exposg wrongdog.

The news jt a day after the untry's print signed harsh new anti-gay legislatn Yterday print Yoweri Maveni lled homosexualy 'disgtg' as he signed the bill to law A Ugandan judge later nmned the outg of homosexuals a untry where gays face severe discrimatn, sayg amounted to an vasn of privacy. 'The bill origally proposed the ath penalty for 'aggravated homosexualy, ' fed as repeated gay sex between nsentg adults and acts volvg a mor, a disabled person or where one partner is fected wh HIV.

‘I HAVE TO LIE LOW. I’M TOTALLY ON EDGE’: UGANDA’S CLUB SCENE FEARS ANTI-GAY LAW

The law also lls for first-time offenrs to be sentenced to 14 years signg the bill, Meveni said the measure is need bee the Wt is promotg homosexualy Ai, rejectg ternatnal cricism as terference Uganda's ternal affairs. In 2010 a now-funct Ugandan paper Rollg Stone - which has no affiliatn wh the Us magaze - published a siar expose David Kato (right) was beaten to ath after another article the same paper (left) lled for him to be hanged Ugandan police spokman Patrick Onyango said on Tuday that no homosexuals have been arrted sce Meveni signed the bill but that at least two had been taken to ctody sce lawmakers passed the bill last December. 'Some Ugandan lawyers and activists have said they will challenge the law urt as unnstutnal and impossible to Ugandan law — which me jt over a month after Nigeria passed a siar measure agast gays — has been nmned around the world, although is wily popular among Ugandans.

” Like many gay people stgglg to survive a untry that has ed Covid-19 as an exce to clamp down on human rights, Ssenyonga is ed to arrts and before the panmic Uganda was labelled the worst place to be gay after s parliament proposed the ath penalty for some homosexual acts. But memori are not as easily first sign of danger, he says, was seeg green boots through a gap unr the people were still bed at the shelter, which has given Ugandan gay people a home durg lockdown. Babirye was born 1985 and brought up Kampala, the pal of Uganda, a natn where gay sex rri a life sentence, public attus are overwhelmgly hostile, and LGBTQ+ activism is illegal: “You n be prison if you’re even ught wh a person talkg about gay issu.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

She had been outed Uganda’s vilently homophobic prs, and when she told her tutors on her masters urse at Makerere Universy that she wanted to explore her sexualy her art, they refed to supervise her. It awas the print’s signature to bee 2023 anti-homosexualy bill crimalis those touchg another person “wh the tentn of mtg the act of homosexualy” and any person who intifi as “a lbian, gay, transgenr, a queer” wh up to 10 years prison. Homosexual sex was already punishable by life imprisonment Uganda, but there was some leeway: “[If we were] drsed weirdly at a ftival, we uld be stopped by police but say, ‘I’m an artist, ’” he says.

”It is not jt the anisatns put place to protect the muny, such as Smug (Sexual Mori Uganda), that have halted their operatns after beg crimalised by the bill: the law would also make illegal for a landlord to rent an event space or a mic stud, or for someone to help put on an event or even DJ on the same bill if there was the mert klg that someone intifyg as a homosexual was performg or rerdg. The furore has bee acpanied by nspiracy theori, such as one perpetuated by mister for secury Gen Elly Tumwe claimg that an LGBTQ-affiliated terrorist group lled the Red Movement is attemptg to create anarchy all over the world by weaponisg homosexualy and has reached a pot where many artists are now beg forced to nsir their future Kampala. ” She is nfint that the hatred fed to her society is a distractn “for a failg enomy and the general jtic we are forced to see every day – but let not fet that is lonialists who brought homophobia wh them”.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Homosexual acts were openly accepted the pre-lonial era east Ai, but ma illegal wh the troductn of the Ugandan penal , wh “rnal knowledge agast the orr of nature” still ed to arrt homosexuals today. KAMPALA, Uganda — Members of Uganda’s LGBTQ muny are shock and fear beg arrted after Parliament passed a measure that would make a crime to intify as gay and impose tough sentenc that clu the ath penalty certa s, an activist said “Anti-Homosexualy Bill, 2023” was passed wh a near-unanimo majory by lawmakers  the east Ain untry, where anti-gay sentiment ns ep. Ronald Kabuubi / APThe legislatn will next be sent to Print Yoweri Meveni, who has repeatedly nounced homosexualy, to be signed to Mugisha, one of a few Ugandans who live openly as gay, told Rters he was sred the measure would trigger “mass arrts of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer persons and mob vlence toward LGBTQ muni.

There’s gog to be a lot of trma and s of mental health that will lead to a lot of suici, ” he relatns were already illegal Uganda, but supporters of the new law say is need to punish a broar array of LGBTQ activi, which they say threaten tradnal valu the nservative and relig East Ain measure clus steep sentenc that clu ath for “aggravated homosexualy” and life prison for same-sex relatns.

Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May. The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law.

UGANDAN PRINT SIGNS ANTI-GAY LAW THAT INCLUS DEATH PENALTY AS A PUNISHMENT

Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia". "It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe legislatn is among the most rtrictive of s kd the world and was nmned by Wtern lears and the Uned Natns human rights Ugandan Parliament May durg the passage of an anti-gay bill.

Anyone who tri to have same-sex relatns uld be liable for up to a law also cre the ath penalty for anyone nvicted of “aggravated homosexualy, ” a term fed as acts of same-sex relatns wh children or disabled people, those rried out unr threat or while someone is unnsc. The offense of “attempted aggravated homosexualy” rri a sentence of up to 14 legislatn is a major blow to efforts by the Uned Natns, Wtern ernments, civil society and rights groups that had implored the print, Yoweri Meveni, not to sign .

UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY

”The sweepg anti-gay measure as a growg number of Ain untri — cludg Kenya and Ghana — nsir passg siar or even stricter Ugandan legislatn, known officially as the Anti-Homosexualy Act, was first passed by Parliament March.

Lawmakers did add language makg clear that anyone spected of beg a homosexual would not be punished unls they engaged same-sex rt of the law remaed the same, cludg mandatg a prison term of up to 20 years for anyone who promot homosexualy, a vague provisn that activists fear uld be ed to target agenci supportg L. The law, which also enurag the public to report any spected acts of homosexualy, ntas ambiguo language that mak difficult to who allows premis to be ed for same-sex relatns uld face up to seven years prison, and a person nvicted of homosexualy uld be sent for “rehabilatn.

Policians first drew up a siar measure 2009, but when was signed to law 2014, the urt stck down on procral over the past few years, polil lears, along wh domtic and ternatnal relig anizatns, began rampg up anti-gay mpaigns and warng about what they ll a threat to fay valu. Media ptn, Watch: Cheers and applse as Uganda pass anti-gay billPeople who intify as gay Uganda risk life prison after parliament passed a new bill to crack down on homosexual activi. Homosexual acts are already illegal Uganda but this bill troduc many new crimal well as makg merely intifyg as gay illegal for the first time, iends, fay and members of the muny would have a duty to report dividuals same-sex relatnships to the was passed wh wispread support Uganda's parliament on Tuday eveng.

TOP UGANDAN GAY ACTIVIST RENOUNC HOMOSEXUALY

The bill's backers say they are tryg to protect children but Ms Byagaba said: "Whether you're heterosexual or homosexual, the ernment and parliament should troduce laws, or at least implement existg laws that protect all children - boys, girls om filement. The fal versn has yet to be officially published but elements discsed parliament clu: A person who is nvicted of groomg or traffickg children for purpos of engagg them homosexual activi fac life prisonIndividuals or stutns which support or fund LGBT rights' activi or anisatns, or publish, broadst and distribute pro-gay media material and lerature, also face prosecutn and imprisonmentMedia groups, journalists and publishers face prosecutn and imprisonment for publishg, broadstg, distributn of any ntent that advot for gay rights or "promot homosexualy"Death penalty for what is scribed as "aggravated homosexualy", that is sexual abe of a child, a person wh disabily or vulnerable people, or s where a victim of homosexual asslt is fected wh a life-long illnsProperty owners also face risk of beg jailed if their premis are ed as a "brothel" for homosexual acts or any other sexual mori rights' activiA small group of Ugandan MPs on a mtee sctisg the bill disagreed wh s premise.

They argue the offenc seeks to crimalise are already vered the untry's Penal Co 2014, Uganda's nstutnal urt nullified another act which had toughened laws agast the LGBT clud makg illegal to promote and fund LGBT groups and activi, as well as reeratg that homosexual acts should be punished by life imprisonment, and was wily nmned by Wtern urt led that the legislatn be revoked bee had been passed by parliament whout the required quom. A Ugandan newspaper has published a list of what lled the untry's 200 top homosexuals, outg some who prevly had not intified themselv as gay, a day after the print enacted a harsh anti-gay US secretary of state, John Kerry, said the signg of the bill by Print Yoweri Meveni on Monday marked "a tragic day for Uganda and for all who re about the e of human rights", and warned that Washgton uld cut aid. There was also a popular Ugandan hip-hop star as well as a Catholic Ugandans intify themselv as gay, and the tabloid's publitn of alleged homosexuals relled a siar list published 2011 by a now funct tabloid that lled for the executn of gay people.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

A proment Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, was killed after the list was published, and activists said they believed he had been targeted bee of his work promotg gay rights new law punish gay sex wh up to life jail, a measure cricised as dranian a untry where homosexualy had already been bill origally proposed the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexualy", fed as repeated gay sex between nsentg adults and acts volvg a mor, a disabled person or where one partner was fected wh HIV. A Ugandan police spokman said on Tuday that no gay people had been arrted sce Meveni signed the bill, but that at least two people had been taken to ctody sce MPs passed last December.

Homosexualy has long been crimalised Uganda unr a lonial-era law that outlawed sex acts "agast the orr of nature" Ugandan lawyers and activists have said they will challenge the law urt as unnstutnal and impossible to Tuday, Nicholas Opiyo, a Ugandan lawyer who ns a rights watchdog group lled Chapter Four, said would make life worse for gay people Uganda. ” Coover has watched ics evolve om Marvel's first openly gay character, Northstar (who me out an “X-Men” ic 2012), to a vast crease LGBTQ visibily and alternativ wh the medium, which she believ is “fluenced by young queer people across the spectm. But the followg year, Uganda's Constutnal Court stck down the law, not bee of s ntent but bee was passed whout two-thirds of members prent to pal punishment for gay sex is on the table aga.

""Homosexualy is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recment by gay people schools, and pecially among the youth, where they are promotg the falsehood that people are born like that, " Lokodo told the Thomson Rters Foundatn Thursday. "It wasn't clear what would be nsired "grave acts" unr the new legislatn, but the origal "kill the gays" bill provid for the ath penalty stanc of what was emed "aggravated homosexualy, " cludg sex acts which one person was HIV-posive or a said the new bill will be troduced Parliament the next few weeks and has the support of Print Yoweri Meveni.

NO, UGANDA IS NOT MAKG ILLEGAL TO BE GAY (AGA)

The most recent fatal attack occurred last week, wh a gay man beg bludgeoned to origal bill also led to a lawsu by Sexual Mori Uganda agast anti-LGBTQ Amerin mister Stt Lively, wh the group sayg he had mted ternatnal human rights vlatns by spreadg hate Uganda.

But fish strong, as the nflict over Richie’s bathhoe project grows and Mx has to nsir whether ’s too risky for the magaze to speak to gay men, or even gay moments like this, the historil fictn feels not entirely historil.

That’s why for , don’t matter whether or not our young micians (and others, of urse) are gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, queer and qutng, tersex or rock stars to pop divas, and everyone between, many of the world’s bt-loved sgers and posers are members of the LGBTQIA+ muny – and we celebrate each and every one of you need of spiratn for your next playlist? His many love letters to tenor, Sir Peter Pears, were later ed an exhibn to mark the 50th anniversary of The 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, the law that started the revolutnary procs of crimalisg homosexualy England and Wal. Followg the song’s release, The Grammy Award-wner, who me out as gay durg Pri Month, told CBS that public figur g out will “always help” others who may be stgglg but believ there is “still much to be done”.