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The People Fighting for LGBT Freedom in Uganda

August 04, 2014 | Mashable
By
Daniella Zalcman

Q & J are a lesbian couple who were married in a secret ceremony after the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was passed. It's important that they keep their identities secret for their safety. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

A lesbian couple embrace in Kampala. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Beyonce Karungi started Transgender Equality Uganda to provide support for transgender women and trans women sex workers. Beyonce herself is a former sex worker, and says that Ugandan trans women are discriminated against so heavily that many of them turn to sex work as a last resort for income. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

The office of LBTI women's rights organization Freedom and Roam (for lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and intersexual) Uganda is in a residential neighborhood in Kampala. While they keep a low profile, neighborhood children will sometimes come to the gate and ask if they can be "recruited" or want to know what a lesbian looks like. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

LGBT rights activist Sandra Ntebi in her home in Kampala. She works as a researcher for Makerere University but says the environment is so hostile that she almost always works from home to avoid harassment. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Moses works with Gay Spectrum Uganda, an organization with a focus on HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and treatment. He's spent years trying to get local clinics to understand that members of the LGBT community deserve access to healthcare. He was faced with closing the clinic when the Anti-Homosexuality Bill passed. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Members of the LGBT community gather Sunday nights at this bar in Kampala, the only safe space available since the Anti-Homosexuality Bill passed in Parliament. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Patience Akumu is one of the few journalists in Uganda who provides balanced coverage of the LGBT community and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill within Uganda. In many ways, the Ugandan media has contributed to the spread of homophobia with multiple instances of papers publishing personal information and photos of gay Ugandans (in one famous case, under the headline "HANG THEM"). Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Adrian Jjuuko, one of the lawyers who filed the suit in Constitutional Court against the Anti-Homosexuality Act and fought to get it struck down. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Staffers at women's rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda burn informational pamphlets, anti-hate campaign posters, and membership information. Since the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was passed by Parliament in December 2013, they've been working to systematically destroy all physical evidence of their work. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

R&C live together in a slum in the Bwaise neighborhood of Kampala. R (on the right) was kicked out of his house when his parents found out that he was gay, leaving him without support to finish high school. C works to take care of both of them, but it's a struggle. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

A wedding photo of a lesbian couple who were married in a secret ceremony held the day after Parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in December 2013. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Belgian expat Steven Dhont waits (with LGBT rights activist Frank Mugisha) to give his statement in the Ntinda Police Station on January 28, 2014. He and a Kenyan friend were arrested at Dhont's house in the middle of the night under suspicion of engaging in "sexual acts which are against the order of nature." Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Sam Otada was one of only two MPs in Uganda's 375-seat Parliament to sign his name to a minority report opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. He opposes the bill because he thinks it is unconstitutional, will be impossible to enforce, and is not a solution to homosexuality, which he believes can be addressed through rehabilitation. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Kasha Nabagesera, one of the more prominent LGBT rights activists in Uganda, lives in a very private compound in Kampala. Her dog, Arzu, is a trained police dog and has saved her from at least one home invasion. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Pepe Julian Onziema is the Programs Coordinator for Sexual Minorities Uganda. A recent interview on HBO's 'Last Week With John Oliver' has made Onziema an international voice for LGBT rights in Uganda. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Brian was one of the founders of Icebreakers, a support group for LGBT youth in the process of coming out to their families. He also composed a song, "The Children of the Rainbow Flag," which has become the anthem of the LGBT community. Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2013.

Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down (on Aug. 1, 2014) the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014 on a procedural technicality, unanimously ruling that the bill was passed in Parliament without a quorum. While this does not mean that Uganda has de-criminalized homosexuality — sexual minorities remain illegal under the 1950s penal code — it still represents a massive coup for LGBT activism in Uganda.

These photos were taken in January 2014, just a couple weeks after Parliament first passed the bill. Then, the LGBT community was preparing for the worst as they waited to see if President Museveni would sign the bill into law.

Activism organizations and other LGBT service providers rapidly began to close their offices and go underground, fearing persecution and violence. When the bill was signed into law the following month, many of the photos I took in January became unpublishable for fear of endangering the lives of the individuals pictured.

Now, Uganda's LGBT population is experiencing a reversal of what I documented earlier this year — at long last there's been an injection of hope and life into a strengthening human rights movement that has refused to be silenced in the face of increasingly harsh legislation.

Sexual health organizations and support groups are getting ready to reopen. The bars in downtown Kampala that used to have gay-friendly nights might return. And most symbolically, Kampala will see its third annual Pride celebration next week, on the banks of Lake Victoria.