Uganda, Africa

To reduce sectarian violence, Ugandan political parties were restricted in their activities from 1986-2005. In the non-party "Movement" system instituted by Yoweri Museveni, political parties continued to exist, but they could only operate a headquarter office. They could not open branches, hold rallies or field candidates directly (although electoral candidates could belong to political parties). A constitutional referendum canceled this nineteen-year ban on multi-party politics in July 2005. Presidential elections were held in February 2006. Yoweri Museveni won against several candidates. As usual the result were challenged but the country is relatively stable except for rebel activity in the northeast. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and gay activists are regularly harassed and taken into custody then released. It is the first country in the world to have a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage (since 2004).

 

News & Reports:

 

Uganda’s President says new anti-gay laws ‘not necessary

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he will not pursue further anti-gay legislation in the country. The long-standing leader has declared that he will not pursue further anti-gay legislation, after previous attempts to strengthen the country’s anti LGBT legislation were defeated. President Museveni signed the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill last February. The law called for repeat… Read more »

The Gay Pride festival in Uganda this weekend defied local law and taboo

Members of the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community celebrated their fourth annual Pride Uganda festival this weekend, defying strict laws criminalizing homosexuality with up to 14 years in jail. Crowds of gay and transgender Ugandans traveled to the shores of Lake Victoria on Saturday to walk in the festival’s gay pride parade, which… Read more »

Uganda gay pride rally held a year after law overturned

Activists in Uganda have held a gay pride rally, a year since a law requiring homosexuals to be jailed for life was overturned. Crowds danced, sang and waved rainbow flags at the event held outside the capital Kampala, the culmination of a week of celebrations. One of those attending hoped it would be a “step… Read more »

Ugandan rights activist Frank Mugisha: We need visible LGBT role models

PinkNews speaks to Ugandan rights activist Dr Frank Mugisha to talk about the long road to acceptance in his country. The executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, Dr Mugisha and his organisation were very involved in fighting the Anti-Homosexuality Act – internationally referred to as the “Kill the Gays” bill. After the act was struck… Read more »

Ugandan tabloid publishes photos of ‘bum drillers’ at Birmingham Pride ‘mega sex fest’

A tabloid in Uganda has published photos of Ugandan people celebrating pride in the UK, referring to pride as a “mega sex fest”. The newspaper ‘Hello Daily’, published an article with photos from Birmingham Pride, making ridiculous claims that the pride event was an “anal sex fete”, and a “mega sex festival.” Referring to gay… Read more »

Constant threats ‘part of life’ for top Ugandan LGBT activist

New York (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In Uganda, homosexuality is considered akin to pedophilia, and prominent LGBT activist Frank Mugisha regards the threats he constantly receives as “part of life.” “I get lots of threats on Facebook, I get threats on the phone…I get dozens of them,” Mugisha said in an interview with the Thomson… Read more »

Kutesa lashes out at pro-gay activists

Kampala – The President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Mr Sam Kutesa, yesterday directed a salvo at pro-gay activists and international rights campaigners who last year pushed a petition to block his ascension to the UN seat. Mr Kutesa, who is in the country on an official visit since his election last June… Read more »

Breaking: LGBTI Ugandans launch Bombastic Magazine as a Christmas present

Uganda’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) community launches Bombastic Magazine, the symbol of our ‘Reclaiming the Media’ Campaign today. Bombastic Magazine is a compilation of stories, testimonies and opinions by LGBTI Ugandans. The objective of this campaign is to end violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people countrywide. In continuing to criminalize… Read more »

LGBTI Ugandans tell their stories in their own magazine

The Ugandan LGBTI community has launched its own magazine to tell their stories to the nation. “Bombastic Magazine is a compilation of stories, testimonies and opinions by LGBTI Ugandans. The objective of this campaign is to end violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people countrywide,” the introductory press release states. Supporters of the magazine… Read more »

Uganda’s leading gay activist: We live in fear of violence, blackmail and extortion

Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha talks to PinkNews about the threats facing Uganda’s LGBT community – and what the rest of the world can do to help. Frank Mugisha is the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), winner of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is one… Read more »

Uganda drafts new anti-gay laws

Politicians want seven-year prison term for ‘promotion’ of homosexuality, according to leaked copy The Ugandan government could introduce new wide-reaching anti-gay laws before the end of the year, which could see people jailed for up to seven years for “promoting homosexuality”, activists warned on Saturday. The move comes nearly a year after Ugandan politicians passed… Read more »

Uganda Report of Violations Based on Sex Determination, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Produced by: Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRCL) Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) Rainbow Health Foundation (RHF) Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Support Initiative for Persons with Congenital Disorders (SIPD) Introduction The impetus behind the Uganda Report on Violations Based on Sex Determination, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation is the… Read more »

Uganda: Judge receiving death threats for striking down anti-gay law

A Ugandan judge responsible for striking down an “illegally passed” anti-gay Ugandan law has revealed she has received death threats. In August, the country’s Constitutional Court struck down the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill which called for repeat offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in prison and made it a criminal offence not to report someone… Read more »

Ugandan Pride festival takes place in Entebbe

Days after its anti-gay law was declared ‘null and void’, Uganda’s local LGBT community celebrate with beachfront Pride rally Just days after the Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the country’s notorious anti-gay law – which threatened gay people with life imprisonment – jubilant LGBT citizens have been celebrating with a gay Pride parade on a… Read more »

Museveni okays ‘private’ gays

In an apparent change of attitude towards homosexuality, President Museveni has told NRM legislators that any re-enacted anti-gay law should respect the rights of two consenting adults who engage in same-sex relationships. Addressing the ruling party caucus at State House Entebbe on Monday, Museveni cautioned MPs to tread carefully on the mooted plan to return… Read more »

Confirmed: Uganda Speaker will bring back anti-gay law

Rebecca Kadaga has said the bill will be re-tabled this month and parliament will vote as soon as possible Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament has said the anti-gay law will return. Rebecca Kadaga, who previously called the passed law to be a ‘Christmas gift’ to the population, has said the bill will be re-tabled this month.… Read more »

Uganda anti-gay law struck down: Lawmakers strike back

‘Make no mistake the gymnastics and simple technicalities will never rule this country’ Uganda’s humiliated lawmakers have struck back after the anti-gay law was nullified earlier today (1 August). In an incredible victory, the Constitutional Court’s judges agreed with the gay rights activists that parliament did not follow proper procedure when they passed the law.… Read more »

Uganda Anti-Gay Law Struck Down by Court

Nairobi — A Ugandan court on Friday struck down a punitive anti-gay law that has strained Uganda’s relations with the West, but the court ruled on narrow technical grounds, preserving the possibility that the measure could be revived. In front of an overflowing courtroom, a panel of five judges announced that the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which… Read more »

Ugandan LGBT rights workshop ‘promotes illegal same sex acts’

The Ugandan High Court has endorsed the government closure of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights workshop, saying that workshop participants were ‘promoting’ or ‘inciting’ same-sex acts. The judgement relied on a single statement from an ‘ex-gay’ who said that the organisation was ‘training homosexual youths to safely engage in the same-sex practices… Read more »

Ugandan Police Arrest Five Amid Government Efforts To Reassure Donor Nations About Anti-LGBT Law

Ugandan Foreign Ministry says new anti-gay law “has been misinterpreted as a piece of legislation intended to punish and discriminate against people of a ‘homosexual orientation.’” Update Human rights lawyers who investigated the arrests following publication of the original report by a Ugandan newspaper found that the five had been arrested on June 26 and… Read more »

LGBTI refugees and Western saviors: Ugandans facing violence in Kenya, and how you can (and can’t) help

My friend Victor Mukasa, a distinguished Ugandan human rights activist, helped to found Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) many years ago. Now he’s leading a Kuchu Diaspora Alliance for Ugandan LGBTI people abroad; yesterday the group posted its first videos on YouTube. They describe violence beleaguering Ugandan queers who fled the country and now subsist… Read more »

Activists: Hundreds of LGBT Refugees Have Fled Uganda

A Kenyan activist, Ugandan asylum-seeker, and the American Jewish World Service hope to raise awareness about east Africa’s beleaguered LGBT community, even as hundreds reportedly flee Uganda. Hundreds of LGBT refugees — whose existence has been criminalized under Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act — have fled Uganda for neighboring Kenya after facing threats and being blackmailed,… Read more »

High Alert: Homophobia in Uganda peaks

In the wake of anti-gay legislation and escalating violence, activists show unimaginable courage You don’t forget the first time you watch a person beaten to death on camera. The cacophony of cracking bone, the wriggling body in its death throes and the enthusiastic camaraderie of the mob I’m watching aren’t part of a Faces Of… Read more »

Ugandan Court Rules Government Can Stop LGBT Groups

“This is like a second or third nail into our coffin.” A Ugandan court essentially sanctioned a crackdown on LGBTI rights organizations in a ruling issued Monday morning, worrying activists that government officials will be further empowered to pursue a witch hunt among civil society organizations under the guise of combating homosexuality. Although LGBTI activists… Read more »

Report: Anti-Gay Abuse Surges in Uganda After Bill Passage

Nairobi — Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say homosexuals in Uganda have faced increased discrimination since the passage of an anti-gay bill last December. In Uganda, members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, known by the acronym LGBT, say life has not been the same since the passage and signing of the… Read more »

US HIV/AIDS funding to Uganda to continue

The United States has assured Uganda of continued funding for HIV/AIDS research and treatment despite the recent storm over the passing of the controversial anti-homosexuality Act. Dan Travis, the public affairs officer at the US embassy in Kampala, said Uganda has been allocated $323m (about sh805b) for this fiscal year 2014 under the US President’s… Read more »

The LGBT Refugees Who Are Seeking Asylum In the World’s Most Notoriously Anti-Gay Country

If they’re seeking sanctuary in Uganda, just imagine what they must be running from. Kampala, Uganda — With one of the world’s most infamous anti-gay laws, Uganda seems like the last place on Earth an LGBTI person would go seeking safety. But almost 100 LGBTI refugees have sought help from an NGO in Uganda’s capital… Read more »

How One Reverend Is Defying Uganda’s ‘Kill The Gays’ Act

Uganda made international headlines when President Yoweri Museveni signed Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Act into law, jailing people for 14 years to life for loving someone of the same sex and leading to massive spikes in hate crime violence. But one Reverend in the country is generating press for a different reason: hosting prayer sessions… Read more »

Uganda Drafts New Anti-Gay Law Targeting NGOs

Kampala (Reuters) – Uganda has drafted a new law that would bar non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from promoting homosexuality, tightening rules further after anti-gay legislation in February was widely condemned as draconian. The draft, now being studied by the cabinet before being introduced in parliament, would also ban foreign NGOs from meddling in the east African… Read more »

Fear Drives African Gays to Seek Asylum in US

Homosexuality is a crime in 38 African countries and new laws in Nigeria and Uganda have increased potential punishments for engaging in gay sex. These strictures have driven some gay and transgender Ugandans to seek asylum in the United States. “I can tell you that it’s so bad in Uganda. People just don’t know what… Read more »

Uganda police raid U.S. military AIDS clinic, order it shut

Activists in Uganda report that plain-clothes police raided a U.S. military-affiliated AIDS services clinic in Kampala today, accused it of promoting homosexuality, and ordered it to close. [A spokesperson for the clinic said the program decided to temporarily suspend operations to ensure the safety of its staff. — Editor] The clinic has been one of… Read more »

Church Abandons Ugandan Cleric Who Ministers To Gays

The Anglican church has severed ties with a Ugandan cleric who ministers to gays. Rev. Christopher Senyonjo, 82, told the AP that he now lives off “gifts” to support himself after the Anglican church cut off his pension. Senyonjo’s sympathetic views toward gay people got him barred from presiding over church events in 2006. He… Read more »

I am a gay Ugandan about to go home. This law will tyrannise my life

A day after the anti-homosexuality act was passed, a tabloid listed me as a ‘homo’. This hatred is new to my country, and driven by US evangelicals Growing up in Uganda, homosexuality was not something we talked about much. I knew I was gay from a young age, and I came out to those close… Read more »

John Kerry To Send Homosexuality ‘Experts’ To Tackle Uganda Anti-Gay Law

Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Tuesday U.S. plans to send homosexuality “experts” to Uganda to discuss the country’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act with President Yoweri Museveni, according to Buzzfeed. “I talked personally to President Museveni just a few weeks ago, and he committed to meet with some of our experts so that we could… Read more »

Uganda anti-gay law claims first victims with arrests

According to reports, two men have been arrested under Uganda’s new anti-gay law after they were caught having sex in a hotel room The first arrests under Uganda’s new anti-gay law are thought to have been made this week after two men were heard having sex in a hotel room The first arrests are believed… Read more »

UNAIDS Is “Prepared” To Join Lawsuit Against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, Top Official Says

“We need to change the way we are doing business,” said Luiz Loures, UNAIDS deputy executive director and assistant secretary general of the United Nations. Washington — Luiz Loures, deputy director of UNAIDS and assistant secretary general of the United Nations, said Wednesday that UNAIDS is ready to join a lawsuit filed in a Ugandan… Read more »

Ugandan anti-gay strategy: The war has barely begun

Supporters of Uganda’s harsh new Anti-Homosexuality Act are preparing their next steps, according to a strategy document from anti-gay Pastor Stephen Langa. Langa, executive director of Uganda’s Family Life Network, organized the seminar in 2009 at which American anti-gay activist Scott Lively energized Uganda’s anti-homosexuality movement shortly before the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced. Langa’s letter… Read more »

Gay law: Kazibwe warns Museveni

In a statement on Monday, former Vice President, Specioza Wandira-Kazibwe belatedly criticized the signing into law of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and urged for its repeal. She said the law would have negative public health implications and serious consequences for Uganda’s international reputation and support from donors. Kazibwe, a special envoy of the UN Secretary General… Read more »

Uganda threatens to cut ties with Church of England over gay rights

Stanley Ntagali, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, has accused the Anglican Church of being ‘spiritually blind’ on the issue of homosexuality Uganda is threatening to break away from the Church of England over gay rights. Stanley Ntagali, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, has said the head of the Anglican Church has… Read more »

World Bank suspends $90 million loan to Uganda over anti-gay law as currency dips

Uganda is seeing further financial consequences over the passing of its notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill that jails gays for life with the World Bank suspending a major development loan The World Bank has suspended a $90million (€65million) loan to Uganda over its passing of the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Act which gives life imprisonment for anyone convicted of… Read more »