the ugandan lgbti civil rights movement
PRIDE UGANDA in the 2020's
The Ugandan LGBT Civil Rights Movement has held 4 pride festivals since inception in 2012. Since 2016,
Pride events have been halted by the government. This continued throughout the following years, which saw the community go without Pride celebrations in 2017 and 2018 and 2019.
However, we are hoping to resume our annual Pride festival once The Pandemic subsides. We must no longer cower to the intimidation and threats issued by the very people who should be protecting us and ensuring our safety.
In 2020 as the gay civil rights movement celebrated 51 years since the uprising at #Stonewall Inn,
Uganda's own movement activists shall in time also arise and reclaim their annual Pride occurrence- an event that has become very sacred to the LGBTI community as a reminder of our past triumphs and the better future we all hope for.
We must celebrate our journey thus far, and the 20+ years since the realization that a merely social movement was not enough. We must celebrate the metamorphosis from a social to political movement that saw people step out boldly to reclaim their space in a world that preached hate against us, yet still we stood tall and proud.
It’s from this background that we request your unwavering support to help us bring back the momentum lost in the over 5 years that Uganda Pride has been halted. There is need to re-mobilise and organize the community after we experienced the 2021 elections – a period that was bound to bring up anti-gay conversations as opportunists used the criminalization of LGBTI Ugandans as campaign strategy, in order to make their way into various political offices. More than ever, we need to bring the community together and encourage one another not to give up, remind ourselves of why the stonewall riots happened, what lies ahead of us but more so to celebrate the achievements we have attained in the last 50+ and 20+ years of the World and Ugandan LGBT Civil Rights Movements respectively.
COVID19
In times of a pandemic and or crisis is when we realise that we need each other more than ever.
We have all witnessed the unbearable mass fatalities that COVID19 has caused globally. The scariest thing is that the developed world, that is supposed to bring Hope to the third world, is the one that is taking away even the little hope left. Not willingly but because the economic infrastructure is failing.
Uganda is among the world’s poorest countries. In times of crisis always the marginalized suffer multiple traumas and discriminations. Many Ugandan LGBQT+ persons right now suffer these multiple traumas and discriminations. Many LGBQT+ persons are homeless and many on funded HIV medication, with the county direction of lockdown and No or limited public transportation many will not be able to survive through these tough times. Many have stopped taking their medication because they are hungry, many are so scared because they have no roof over their heads. This is a very difficult period for the whole world but more so marginalized communities. Cases of blackmail, domestic violence, extortion are on the rise now.
The LGBQT+ community in Uganda is under renewed attack because of corrupt religious leaders spewing falsehoods that our community caused the COVID19 pandemic by annoying GOD. Many brutal attacks are underway.
ARRESTS
On the 1st of April 2020 20+ members of the community were arrested by government authorities, taken from the community shelter for homeless LGBTQ+ persons. This was a targeted attack on the homeless members after a directive of quarantine was issued by the President about social distancing. These are homeless people in shelered isolated seclusion at their daily home. Police claimed they had abused the Presidents directive since they were more than 5 people in the shelter.
It is our humble request that we at Uganda PRIDE kindly call for your assistance, to support your Ugandan LGBTI community in the very trying moment. We have not given the whole picture of our situation because of underlying security circumstances.
