For the longest time, the Pearl of Africa, Uganda was a beacon of hope for LGBTIQ+ rights in East Africa. In August 2012, Entebbe saw Uganda host her first pride parade which was in protest of the government’s treatment of its LGBTIQ+ citizens. During this time, the Ugandan parliament was making attempts to adopt harsher sodomy laws famously known as Kill The Gays Bill which would include life imprisonment for aggravated homosexuality. This protest made every August, pride month in Uganda and for queers across the East African region, this was a time to look forward to and possibly travel to Uganda to celebrate.
With themes such as “Still going strong” 2013 and “we are family” 2015, Uganda's emphasis was on humanizing queer folk and affording equal rights as citizens of Uganda. In August 2016, pride was brutally interrupted by police who not only violently attacked and beat up people at the event, but also arrested 16 of them while at it. This is an attack that is etched in my brain because not only had I started
my journey of coming out but I was a year in loudly fighting for LGBTIQ+ rights in Kenya and Uganda was very significant for me with regards to attending pride. Which still remains a life goal of mine.
Come 2017, I was in fact able to travel to Kampala with hopes of defiantly celebrating pride with queer siblings there. The organizers had to cancel pride due to threats of arrest by police and the government. Since I was in Uganda, I remember us being evacuated from a club after we decided to go grieve
cancellation by of pride and even in the home of my host, we had to cancel a house party because of the same. There was a witch-hunt for queers all over Kampala and Uganda as a whole. It has continuously gone downhill from there, with the anti-homosexuality act 2023 being passed in March 2023 criminalizing not only queer folk but also allies and funders of LGBTIQ+ rights. This Saw a lot of funders including world
bank pulling out funding in Uganda including funding the government. This was a move to show allieship and support towards LGBTIQ+ citizens of Uganda. Many lives of queer Ugandans have continued to be in danger since the passing of the act seeing many fleeing to safety and a lot of advocacy work being stifled.
It’s sad that as a region we are seeing a new wave of abuse that puts the efforts of human rights so many steps behind and how this hate is spreading across the continent of Africa and the world too. We have seen many human rights organizations staying mum in the wake of these attacks and violence and I guess the question that begs is, while queers are being killed and discriminated, who fights for them when they can barely fight for themselves?
Who fights for us when we can barely fight for ourselves?
Written by Marylize Biubwa