The hunt for the homos intensifies in Uganda

By Our Reporter

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Uganda face severe challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBTQ people. Uganda has one of the world’s harshest laws for LGBTQ+ people. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both men and women in Uganda.ù

This is actively incited by conservative political, religious and community leaders, with the upsurge in such activism since the 1990s encouraged or influenced by foreign anti-LGBTQ campaigners.
Violent attacks and harassment against LGBTQ people are common, often performed or incited by state officials.

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  Martin Ceaser Ssekweyama aged 23 years a son of Nabakooza Jane is being pursued by the community and a father to one of a political leader in Mbale district.

While at Mbale university Martin had a friend called Henry Mugooli whom they shared the same sex orientation. Henry’s father Mr. Mugooli Earnest is the chairman local council three (LC3) at Munkaaga parish and he is one of the frontliners in the fight against vices in the parish.

News started circulating around the village that Martin and Henry are homosexuals, which angered the community, it was so mad at them and wanted to storm their families to burn their homes.

What saved them was that Henry’s father is a political leader and secondly they lacked evidence to back up the allegations.

Henry’s father went ahead to squeeze his son to know the truth who eventually told him the truth. He claimed that it was Martin who persuaded him into the vice of homosexuality. But according to our exclusive source, they were both gay.

Mr. mugooli was so annoyed and started beating his son so hard saying that this is a shame to the family and the community.

This is a big blow to his political carrier in the next election as his opponent will use this as a tool to bring him down.

Earnest decided to look for Martin’s parents to have their son convicted. But Martin’s mother had hidden his son after knowing that what his son is practicing is forbidden in the country.

The community stormed Martin’s mother and put her to task to tell them the where about of Martin or else threatened to be to be imprisoned if she doesn’t tell them where he is. But since Martin was above 18 years, the mother claimed that her son being an adult, he cannot control all his movements.

Henry’s father now resorted to use the media, churches and mosques to have this vice eliminated in his parish and the country at large.

The imams and pastors were alerted, so that they should preach in churches and mosques about this illegal thing, which also enforces bans on the sale of alcohol, prostitution and gambling.

“People should put [an] eye on their children and know those who are moving with them, People should try to see where these evil things are taking place, and if they find it please tell the authority. We will go and arrest them and make them stop this kind of thing” Henry’s father said.

Mr. Mugooli contends that Religion, both Christianity and Islam should play a powerful role in shaping people’s views on homosexuality in Uganda.

Mbale is a deeply conservative district, it has an influential Christian evangelical movement in the urban centers and strong support for Islamic law in the rural areas.

“According to Islam, a generation was wiped out by God because of homosexuality during the Prophet hood of Lot, so I am afraid there will be calamity here if homosexuality is practiced,” said one local resident.

The leading Sunday services at All Saints’ Cathedral in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Rev. Canon John Awodi declares vehemently that “homosexuality is a sin that must be repented of,” adding that it is against the “order of God.”

“Homosexuality is not natural, it is unnatural. That is the stand of the church here. It is unbiblical, it is unnatural,” the Anglican cleric told The Aviator Africa.

These themes have become a common thread in his sermons and interviews ever since Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was signed into law.

The act outlaws gay marriage in Uganda, punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” – which includes sex with a minor or otherwise vulnerable person, having sex while HIV positive and incest.

It dehumanizes us as human beings; it doesn’t treat us as citizens. We are literally criminals and we are illegal in our own space that we call home.

Nowhere is safe for any queer person living in Uganda,” Joan Amek, co-founder of Rella Women’s Foundation, told The Aviator Africa.

Even though she created a safe space and shelter for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women through her organization, she says, she herself faces eviction from her rented apartment.

She believes it is because of her sexuality and prominence in queer activism, even though her landlord didn’t explicitly say so but her suspicions rose after a neighbor tipped her off.

“I have had myself being chased away from where I’m staying,” she said. The LGBTQ peoples’ lives are actually useless to the community in Uganda.

They literally tell themselves that they don’t have a family in this world.