{"id":42173,"date":"2014-04-28T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=42173"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:35:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:05","slug":"persecution-of-ugandas-gays-intensifies-as-rights-groups-go-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/04\/persecution-of-ugandas-gays-intensifies-as-rights-groups-go-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"Persecution of Uganda\u2019s Gays Intensifies as Rights Groups Go Underground"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sandra<\/a>

Sandra Ntebi, who runs a hotline and helps Uganda\u2019s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community find alternative, safe accommodation, pictured here at the 2013 Gay Pride parade.
Credit: Amy Fallon\/IPS<\/p><\/div>\n

As she sits in a Kampala hotel holding a mobile phone that rings frequently, Sandra Ntebi tells IPS:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m really exhausted. I don\u2019t know where to start. We have many cases pending.\u201d Ntebi manages a hotline and is helping Uganda\u2019s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community find alternative, safe accommodation after they have faced harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, some people have been thrown out of their homes, some are in jail. Every day there are cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nearly 4.30 pm on Tuesday, Apr. 22 [2014], just over two months since Uganda\u2019s President Yoweri Museveni signed a draconian anti-gay bill that further criminalises homosexuality in this East African nation.<\/p>\n

So far today Ntebi has received calls relating to four new cases concerning LGBTI people or those perceived to be LGBTI that include incidents of\u00a0evictions by\u00a0landlords, police arrests and mob attacks.<\/p>\n

In total she and a colleague have received reports of about 130 different cases across the country since Museveni inked his signature on the\u00a0Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014<\/a>\u00a0in late February.<\/p>\n

The law prescribes life imprisonment for some homosexual acts and also criminalises the \u201cpromotion of homosexuality\u201d, among other measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is tense. Right now this act is promoting violence,\u201d says Ntebi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the reports since I have the hotline. We sit down later with the details then categorise them into evictions, arrests and assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today her co-worker has received a call about a new incident in Hoima, western Uganda. Among the cases Ntebi is dealing with is a fresh attack on Brenda, an HIV positive, transgender sex worker in her late 30s who lives just outside the capital, Kampala.<\/p>\n

In March Brenda was \u201cparaded\u201d before local media, outed as a transsexual, beaten, undressed and arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bailed her out, she went back to her house in the village and she couldn\u2019t even leave because people were out every day waiting for her,\u201d says Ntebi. \u201cThey were throwing stones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brenda went to stay with a friend based on advice from the LGBTI hotline. Then on Thursday, Apr. 17, she was beaten again, taken to hospital and is now holed up in a hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to secure a house for her to rent,\u201d says Ntebi, who on Wednesday went to help Brenda.<\/p>\n

Around Mar. 19, the same time that Brenda was first attacked, three Ugandan men who were perceived to be gay were assaulted and admitted to the Mulago Hospital in Kampala. A few weeks later, Ntebi says, the team were alerted to a possible suicide of an LGBTI person by an embassy.<\/p>\n

On Apr. 3 crime intelligence officers raided the Makerere University Walter Reed Project clinic, a non-profit collaboration between Makerere University in Kampala and the U.S. Military HIV Research Programme. Police claimed the project, one of the few in Kampala willing to offer services to LGBTI people with AIDS, was \u201ccarrying out recruitment and training of young males in unnatural sex acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many activists and other members of the gay community are now in hiding, says Ntebi, who is wearing a black vest from a 2006 campaign run by\u00a0Sexual Minorities Uganda<\/a>\u00a0(SM-UG), an NGO and the umbrella for all homosexual organisations in Uganda. The words \u201cLeave me in peace\u201d are embroidered on the back.<\/p>\n

Ntebi says many activists had fled Uganda to seek asylum in different countries, while most LGBTI organisations were closed \u201cdue to fear\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ntebi now only goes to work at her office when it\u2019s absolutely essential.<\/p>\n

Beyondy is the nickname for a 23-year-old fashion designer who is in hiding.<\/p>\n

He used to spend his days sewing a dress for a client or mastering routines for upcoming\u00a0events, like the second Gay Pride parade in 2013.<\/p>\n

Since the bill was signed he has moved to a tiny one-bedroom shack, tucked away at the back of a slum in a lively Kampala suburb. Beyondy now spends his days mostly indoors watching music videos by Beyonc\u00e9, Pink and Rita Ora, only going outside when he has to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Rita\u2019s style \u2013 the blonde hair, her red lipstick,\u201d cooes Beyondy, wearing a T-shirt and board shorts showing off his muscular build, when IPS met him recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be a performer, for people to see my talent and discover me. But right now I think it\u2019s impossible. Right now it\u2019s all about survival, saving your life and being quiet, being underground all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past Beyondy was attacked \u201ca lot\u201d, and fears he\u2019ll be targeted again now that the anti-gay act is in force.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know someone was saying recently, \u2018if we had a choice between forgiving a rapist and a gay person, we\u2019d rather choose a rapist,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Activists are hoping a petition filed in March challenging the act will come up in the country\u2019s constitutional court early next month.<\/p>\n

According to the Ugandan newspaper\u00a0The Observer<\/a>, the government has filed a defence, claiming the act does not contravene the right to equality and freedom from cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment guaranteed under the country\u2019s constitution. The government wants the petition dismissed.<\/p>\n

But even if the law is overturned Beyondy says it will take much more than a court ruling to change social attitudes towards homosexuality in Uganda.<\/p>\n

In the current climate of homophobia, which activists stress has been \u201cimported\u201d to Uganda via western evangelists, virtually everyone is aware they can use another person\u2019s sexuality to exact revenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in people\u2019s minds and even if it\u2019s overturned they\u2019ll still think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s adamant he will remain in Uganda to \u201crebuild both personally and professionally\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related IPS Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n