Uganda's constitutional court has upheld a new law that strips LGBTQ+ people of their rights. Many in the community feel unsafe and some are choosing to leave the country.

Kampala

Uganda's constitutional court recently upheld a controversial law that severely restricts the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals within the country. This legislation has intensified the challenges and dangers faced by the LGBTQ+ community, leading some to flee Uganda in search of safety. 

Sula Mweje, a Ugandan who identifies as queer, has been living in Kenya since 2016 due to the increasingly hostile environment in his home country. After a harrowing experience where he was beaten and rejected by his family, Sula found refuge in Kenya. Here, he now works with an organization dedicated to providing safe spaces for displaced LGBTQ+ persons. Despite the challenges, including multiple instances of having to move due to threats of violence, Sula and nine other residents, mostly from Uganda, consider Kenya their only home now.

However, the relative safety felt in Kenya comes with its own set of challenges. Poe Kimani, a lawyer working with the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya, highlights the precariousness of their safety due to legal and societal discrimination. Kenya, like Uganda, criminalizes homosexuality, and those seeking refuge are still at risk of violence and harassment.

Champagne, a transgender woman and recent arrival at the safe house, shares her experiences of abuse in Uganda and her hopes for future relocation to a country that accepts her identity. Despite the adversities faced, there's a communal spirit among the residents of the safe house, symbolized by a gallery showcasing queer individuals from around the world, emphasizing a shared experience and resilience.



Extreme anti-LGBTQ+ law upheld in Uganda

Sula Mweje is a Ugandan who's been living in Kenya since 2016. He was forced to leave his home because he's queer. Life in Kampala proved unbearable for him after the country's parliament passed a law that increased the penalties for some forms of consensual same-sex acts. Even his family turned on him. I was brutally beaten by my uncle mobilising people, saying I'm a disgrace. I remember I woke up on a hospital bed and from there I was like, Uganda is not home and it's not safe. Since relocating to Kenya, Sula has made a life for himself here. He works with an organisation that helps create safe spaces for other displaced LGBTQ persons in the country. Currently, nine people, most of them from Uganda, live in the safe house with him. Sula tells me Kenya is their only home now, a reality that's still difficult to accept even after eight years. No, Uganda is not home. And it really pains me that something like Samoa, where I am from, I don't regard it as home anymore. I mean, with grace, I hope, I hope like people at home get to, I mean, everyone gets to feel safe at home, yeah. Despite feeling more comfortable here, Sula and his friends still have to fear for their lives. Since he's been in Kenya, Sula has actually had to move houses four times, fearing violence and harassment. He actually tells me that this week he was attacked on a motorcycle taxi just for being queer. Now, Kenya, like Uganda, also criminalises homosexuality, but Sula says he feels much safer here. I would be conscious of using the word safe. Poe Kimani is a lawyer working with the queer community. If you feel that your life is at risk, you run to where you think you're safe, but there is no conviction or guarantee of safety. The minute you step on Kenyan soil, you're still governed by the law, the sodomy clause in our penal code. You're still governed by the same policemen and the same communities that harbour and internalise fear and hatred for homosexuals. At the safe house, Champagne, the latest arrival, agrees to speak to us. The transgender woman finally made it to Kenya through support from a donor. She tells me a lot of her queer friends are still experiencing abuse in Uganda, abuse similar to what she suffered at the hands of her family. Eventually, Champagne hopes to move to a country that does not criminalise sexuality or sexual orientation. For now, though, she remains under the care of Sula, who says he is committed to working in Kenya for the displaced in his community. In the safe house, he shows me a gallery of queer people from all over the world, a reminder that they are not alone.

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