UGANDA: ¨Today, we defeated you! MP David Bahati, anti-gay evangelicals and supporters had the goal of passing this bill. They did not achieve it...



The ¨Kuchu¨ victory in Uganda

 ¨This is really a tremendous achievement. Bahati, anti-gay evangelicals and supporters had the goal of passing this bill. They did not achieve it.

Activists in Uganda have done a stunning job. You can look at your opponents and say “Today, we defeated you.” There will be another fight tomorrow but recognizing the power that you have built is important for everyone. You have really shown the world what is possible. You have worked with allies in sectors of human rights, legal services, refugee rights, women’s rights, faith organizations, sex work, lesbian, gay, intersex, trans,. There has also been impressive work between the Ugandan community and embassies in Uganda on a level that has been challenging in the past and in other parts of the world. Activists have had to immerse themselves in the workings of the parliamentary process and become familiar with legislative procedure. Activists have become intimately familiar with the inner working of media houses, the process of getting stories accepted or rejected. Groups have delved into the relationships between courts, the media, the public and the legislature...¨ read it all HERE

Uganda's Parliament dissolved before the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 could be considered

The Beginning of the End of the Exile of Uganda's LGBTI Community

¨Last week Uganda's Parliament dissolved before the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 could be considered. The bill was tabled on October 14, 2009 after American religious fundamentalists met with MP David Bahati. Four months later the Human Rights and Peace Center at Makerere University organised The Human Rights and Sexual Orientation forum where Val Kalende declared, "This day marks the beginning of the end from exile of the gay and lesbian people."

¨Fellow Human rights activists, distinguished guests and all Ugandans. I am proud to stand before you as a lesbian today. With hearts full of love and the abiding faith in justice, we have come to this place to speak to Uganda. We have come to speak the truth of our lives and silence the liars. We have come to challenge the cowardly anti gay campaigners and state officials to end their paralysis and exercise moral leadership. We have come to defend our honor and win our equality. But most of all we have come in peace and with courage to say, "Uganda, this day marks the beginning of the end from exile of the gay and lesbian people. We are banished no more. We will wander the wilderness of despair no more. We will be afraid no more. For on this day, with love in our hearts, we have come out, and we have come out across Uganda to build a bridge of understanding, a bridge of progress, a bridge as solid as steel, a bridge to a land where no one suffers prejudice because of their sexual orientation, their race, their gender, their religion, or their human difference..."  read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Andrew Park
·  Thanks to denkross' life in Uganda
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Val Kalende