For the uninitiated, I need to give a bit of background before posting the story in order to explain why this is such a big deal in Uganda in particular.
In 2009, a group of American Christian evangelicals announced that they would be having a conference in Kampala, Uganda on the subject of homosexuality. The speakers at this conference included Scott Lively, a man widely known in anti-gay circles as having written The Pink Swastika, a book which purports that the Nazi Party in general and the Holocaust in particular were orchestrated by effeminate gay men. In Uganda, Lively then used the same arguments he presents in his book to argue that gays were likely responsible for the Rwandan genocide, as well. Another one of the speakers, Caleb Brundidge, is associated with Richard Cohen, who is himself well-known for his touch therapy that was widely lampooned on CNN and later eviscerated in an interview with Rachel Maddow, which also touched on the controversy in Uganda and his responsibility for it. And lastly, Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, was also among the presenters. Exodus International is well-known as an organization which claims to be able to help gay people become straight.
During their conference in Uganda, these men presented pedophilia as synonymous with homosexuality and told audience members that child sexual molestation was the primary way in which gay people recruited, told them that gay people have an agenda to turn the whole world gay, and argued that gay people are capable of change if they wish to. They also participated in an endorsing a proposed Ugandan law which would force convicted gays into conversion therapy.
While homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, in the aftermath of this conference a new bill was introduced in Uganda which proposed the death penalty for homosexual intercourse, seven years in prison for publicly defending homosexuality, and three years for not reporting knowledge of homosexual acts within 24 hours. This bill was later amended slightly to change the sentence to life imprisonment in response to international pressure. However, the death penalty still remained in full force, because of a newly added clause for "aggravated homosexuality" which included such offenses as "serial offender", a category so broadly defined as to include someone who has had sex with two people or who has had sex with one person more than one time. This change was essentially a slight-of-hand hoping to satisfy people who were not paying attention.
The bill has yet to be passed three years later, but in the last three years there have been more revelations of connections between American anti-gay Christian groups and Ugandan Christian groups, a Ugandan tabloid purporting to out multiple homosexuals in Uganda, a Ugandan preacher with connections with Rick Warren (who after much pussyfooting around and arguments that he wouldn't want to interfere in another country's democratic process, finally condemned the proposed Ugandan bill) presenting selections from obscure gay pornography including acts of coprophagia in an attempt to further inflame and disgust his parishioners, and the murder of an LGBT advocate (and a "gay panic" defense used by the police investigating the murder after a suspect was apprehended), among other sundry events (including an American anti-gay organization, the Family Research Council, lobbying against a proposed resolution condemning the proposed Ugandan law. They eventually claimed, after several shifts, that this because the bill was being misrepresented - though they themselves misrepresented the contents of the bill).
It is in this atmosphere of a country in which homosexuality is already illegal and in the last three years in which there have been serious discussions of introducing the death penalty for acts of homosexuality and removing free speech rights to defend homosexuality, and in which tabloids have run vigilante campaigns of outing prominent figures as homosexual before being stopped by court orders that Ugandan groups were having this celebration:
“Can you imagine that the worst place in the world to be gay is having Gay Pride?” Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera asked a crowd of cheering gay men, lesbians, transgendered men and women, and queers somewhere in between. It was Saturday afternoon, and we were on the shores of the giant, cloudy Lake Victoria in the Ugandan city of Entebbe, where L.G.B.T. activists had decided to stage the country’s first Pride Parade. Nabagesera, a lesbian activist covered, for the occasion, in glitter and neon spray paint, with homemade angel wings, was being half-sarcastic. A barrage of media coverage has painted the country as a hell for gays—a place where they are suffering and being attacked constantly—and, despite the need to combat such threats, L.G.B.T. Ugandans were tired of hearing a story that ignored their nuanced experiences of both joy and hardship. But Nabagesera was also sincerely pleased: a crowd of nearly a hundred people had come out, fears of arrest notwithstanding, to celebrate their existence. The air was thick with confetti, paint fumes, and anticipation.
I’ve spent a couple of months this year working on a story about gay rights here, as an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow, and was surprised to see that the narrative had made yet another unexpected turn. Though activists are in the middle of a lawsuit they filed against ethics and integrity minister Simon Lokodo, who has been on a zealous effort to shut down all gay-advocacy workshops and non-profits allied with L.G.B.T. activists, spirits were high to the point that a Pride event was not just wanted, but needed. Uganda’s Pride was a weekend-long event, made up of film screenings, a fashion show in drag, and all-night (and into the morning) parties. Two hundred and fifty tickets had been sold, though, as a vivacious trans woman named Cleo told me, fifty-some people showed up on Thursday and Friday, because many were still wary about gathering in large groups. “We couldn’t have done this kind of thing two years ago, and for those that were here back then, they almost can’t believe things are safer and better now,” Cleo said. The first two days went off without a hitch, and more people, predictably, showed up for the evening bacchanals.
I took a bus from Kampala, the capital, to Entebbe on Saturday morning with a number of the participants. A trans woman named Bad Black showed me glamour photos taken of her at an L.G.B.T.-friendly studio in town: in them she is wearing a wig, dresses, and lingerie. Bad Black, who helps run a foundation that helps H.I.V.-positive L.G.B.T. Ugandans, was wearing typical male attire for the bus ride, but wore gold earrings and had short, fluffy curls. She can’t dress as a woman on a daily basis, but planned to change once we got to the lake. Nature, a cheerful trans woman sitting in front of us, plucked a photo to admire it and remarked, “Hmm, photos do lie.” The bus erupted into laughter. Several people, adorned in rainbow-patterned scarves and armbands, pulled out makeup compacts and started to apply bright eye shadow and lipstick. We made noisy stops along the highway to pick up more attendees, and passersby, curious about the laughter and music, peered inside.
The botanical grounds around the lake are a languid picnic destination for families and couples, but relatively secluded: an ideal location for a parade that was still on shaky ground, safety-wise. At the area reserved for the festival, participants wore yellow wristbands to identify themselves to each other and let loose. People swam, drank, and danced as a D.J. played loud music. I met people like Akram, who operates a “gay-video library.” Activist Frank Mugisha, who appeared dressed in a sailor’s costume with a rainbow sash and called himself Captain Pride, told me, “I just wish I had a switch to turn on that would make everyone who’s gay say they are gay. Then everyone who is homophobic can realize their brothers, their sisters, and their aunts are gay.” He confessed that he was shocked to see so many people in attendance.
I’ve spent a couple of months this year working on a story about gay rights here, as an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow, and was surprised to see that the narrative had made yet another unexpected turn. Though activists are in the middle of a lawsuit they filed against ethics and integrity minister Simon Lokodo, who has been on a zealous effort to shut down all gay-advocacy workshops and non-profits allied with L.G.B.T. activists, spirits were high to the point that a Pride event was not just wanted, but needed. Uganda’s Pride was a weekend-long event, made up of film screenings, a fashion show in drag, and all-night (and into the morning) parties. Two hundred and fifty tickets had been sold, though, as a vivacious trans woman named Cleo told me, fifty-some people showed up on Thursday and Friday, because many were still wary about gathering in large groups. “We couldn’t have done this kind of thing two years ago, and for those that were here back then, they almost can’t believe things are safer and better now,” Cleo said. The first two days went off without a hitch, and more people, predictably, showed up for the evening bacchanals.
I took a bus from Kampala, the capital, to Entebbe on Saturday morning with a number of the participants. A trans woman named Bad Black showed me glamour photos taken of her at an L.G.B.T.-friendly studio in town: in them she is wearing a wig, dresses, and lingerie. Bad Black, who helps run a foundation that helps H.I.V.-positive L.G.B.T. Ugandans, was wearing typical male attire for the bus ride, but wore gold earrings and had short, fluffy curls. She can’t dress as a woman on a daily basis, but planned to change once we got to the lake. Nature, a cheerful trans woman sitting in front of us, plucked a photo to admire it and remarked, “Hmm, photos do lie.” The bus erupted into laughter. Several people, adorned in rainbow-patterned scarves and armbands, pulled out makeup compacts and started to apply bright eye shadow and lipstick. We made noisy stops along the highway to pick up more attendees, and passersby, curious about the laughter and music, peered inside.
The botanical grounds around the lake are a languid picnic destination for families and couples, but relatively secluded: an ideal location for a parade that was still on shaky ground, safety-wise. At the area reserved for the festival, participants wore yellow wristbands to identify themselves to each other and let loose. People swam, drank, and danced as a D.J. played loud music. I met people like Akram, who operates a “gay-video library.” Activist Frank Mugisha, who appeared dressed in a sailor’s costume with a rainbow sash and called himself Captain Pride, told me, “I just wish I had a switch to turn on that would make everyone who’s gay say they are gay. Then everyone who is homophobic can realize their brothers, their sisters, and their aunts are gay.” He confessed that he was shocked to see so many people in attendance.
The rest can be found here.
