Ugandan LGBTQ Rights Activist Nalubula on the run over threats

Authorities in Uganda’s Capital Kampala are reportedly hunting for a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) activist over allegations of promoting consensual same-sex conduct / gender nonconformity.

Aishah Nalubula a resident of Kyandondo in Kampala I in trouble after her partner Farida Nakalema confessed that they are members of the LGBTQ in the City.

According to a local authority source in Kyadondo ,

Advertisements

It is alleged that Nalubula disappeared after security official started hunting them down and raiding one of their community centers in Kampala.

‘’Those arrested said that police beat at least of their colleagues at the police station and that the police threatened and verbally battered all those arrested. They also said that the police interrogated them without the presence of a lawyer and forced them to sign statements they were not allowed to read’’, said source worried about Nalubula’s whereabouts.

It should be remembered that 14 gay men, two bisexual men and four transgender women were arrested in April after police raided a shelter on the outskirts of the capital Kampala following a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people to control coronavirus or COVID-19.

But according to Ugandan police, 23 people arrested on March 29 living at a shelter serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kampala .

African countries have some of the world’s most prohibitive laws governing homosexuality. Same-sex relationships are considered taboo and gay sex is a crime across most of the continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death. In Uganda, a largely conservative Christian country, homosexual sex is punishable by life imprisonment.

It should be remembered that on 1 November 2022, the Ugandan delegation at the 61st session of the Organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States Parliamentary Assembly vowed to oppose plans by pro-gay nations to impose the promotion of homosexuality.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the session in Maputo City, Mozambique, Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s parliament Thomas Tayebwa noted that African countries should not accept homosexuality that is against the cultural and societal setting of the countries in exchange for aid.

The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement is a revised extension of the 20 year Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed in 2000 governing trade and economic relations between the EU and all 48 Sub-Saharan countries in Africa, 16 Caribbean countries and 15 Pacific countries (ACP).

Speaker Tayebwa, said the agreement contains clauses promoting homosexuality, a practice he said Uganda will strongly oppose.

“We have discovered that with the Post Cotonou agreement, there are hidden clauses concerning human rights. Clauses to do with sexuality, promotion of LGBT/homosexuality and clauses to do with abortion,” he said.

Uganda’s constitutional court overturned the law – formerly known as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it includes the death penalty -on a technicality in 2014.

Still without it, Uganda is one of the hardest countries in Africa to be a sexual minority.

It should be remembered further that the late Simon Lokodo, Uganda’s former state minister for ethics and integrity, said Uganda can’t allow the recruitment and promotion of homosexuality .

Ugandan officials describe homosexuality as “not natural to Ugandans” and claimed there was “a massive recruitment [campaign in schools]”.

Hate crimes against gay people, including physical and sexual assault, blackmail and extortion, are common in Uganda but most victims are too fearful to go to the police, according to rights groups.

Campaigners say existing laws are also used to discriminate against LGBT people, making it harder for them to get a job or promotion, rent housing or access health and education services. Many flee to neighboring countries where discrimination, though still acute, is less severe.

According to an article published by a news website ‘the Guardian’ t, three years ago, Brian Wassa, a gay activist and paralegal, died of injuries sustained in an attack at his home in Jinja, eastern Uganda.

Wassa was among the LGBTI activist to have been killed within that period.

LGBT activists say it would be wrong to underestimate the resilience and strength of the gay community in Uganda.

Claims that homosexuality is un-African are common on the continent, though contradicted by many historians and experts.

In Kenya, judges said existing laws on homosexuality represented the values and views of the country. In Tanzania, authorities in Dar es Salaam, the biggest city, crackdowns on gay people in the past few years have been on after official called on citizens to identify gay people so they could be arrested, forcing hundreds into hiding.

There has been an international outcry over plans to impose the death penalty for gay sex by some African countries, according to ‘the guardian news’.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Uganda face legal challenges, active discrimination and stigmatization not experienced by non-LGBT residents.

Both male and female homosexual activity is illegal in Uganda. Under the Penal Code, “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” between two males carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

LGBT people continue to face major discrimination in Uganda, enthusiastically encouraged by political and religious leaders. Violent and brutal attacks against LGBT people are common, often performed by state officials. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.

Additional Source: Reuter, Wikimedia, the Thomson Reuters Foundation.