Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera: Passionate human being, daughter, sister, lover and human rights worker in Uganda

¨I’ve lived my life fighting for gay rights openly in Uganda and I’ve had to pay a price for that¨

Ugandan lesbian activist's powerful speech to Amnesty International (AI)'s International Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland

¨...I am a very passionate human being, a daughter, a sister and a lover. Amongst all of that I am a human being who is willing to go, join other people in the struggle to work for human rights. And this time today I want to share with you my experience as a gay rights activist.

In Africa over 38 countries criminalise homosexuality. These are ordinary citizens who contribute to the development of their countries, but they are being criminalised simply for who they love and because of who they are attracted to. In Uganda where I come from, homosexuality is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of five imprisonment. However, in 2009 a bill was proposed in the Parliament of Uganda saying that life imprisonment is a very weak law to criminalise homosexuality and now they are proposing the death penalty.

I’ve lived my life fighting for gay rights openly in Uganda and I’ve had to pay a price for that. I’ve been evicted from house to house. My office has been evicted. I can no longer move on the streets openly. I’ve been attacked. And these are just a few of the things that happened to me and my community.

Early this year, I lost a dear friend and comrade, David Kato HERE. He stood out of the darkness to fight for the freedom and liberty of my community. The price he paid was to be murdered in cold blood during the day in his house. Just as we are still trying to deal with the tragedy, four months later a member of my community committed suicide because his family disowned him, his work sacked him, he had no where to go.

As if that was not enough, in broad day light a house of one of my members was set ablaze with letters left behind. That is just the beginning, they are coming for all of us.

Where does all of this homophobia come from. It comes from the press. It comes from the State. It comes from the culture and the religious institutions.

We are not scared. These are our lives we are fighting for. It is not easy and we are very aware of it. But we cannot afford to sit back there, because if we sit back there we shall have lost the battle for human rights. We are very aware that some of us may never live to see the freedoms and liberties we are fighting for today. But we are just honoured that we are part of this ground breaking struggle to make a better place for the future generations. Not only in Uganda and not only in Africa, but also in the world...¨ please read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar

·  Thanks to Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, video, HERE
·  Thanks to  AmnestyInternational

MY LOVE COMES THROUGH ANYTHING: ¨The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him, Priests can´t defeat him with venomous rhetoric...¨



Musa Okwonga is an acclaimed poet, football writer, musician and promoter. A scholarship student at Eton College

Following the murder David Kato, Ugandan poet Musa Okwonga dedicated his poem "My Love" to David Kato and Eudy Simelane. LGBTI Activist David Kato was murdered in his home in Uganda in January and lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008. Musa Okwonga has now turned "My Love" into a multimedia project.

My Love

To some people


My love is somewhat alien;


When he comes up, they start subject-changing, and


In some states he’s seen as some contagion -


In those zones, he stays subterranean;


Some love my love; they run parades for him:


Liberal citizens lead the way for him…


But the same time as these people are embracing him,


Whole faiths and nations seem ashamed of him:


They’ve tried banning him,


God-damning him,


Toe-tagging him,


Praying that he stayed in the cabinet,


But my love kicked in the panelling and ran for it -


He’s my love! Can’t be trapping him in labyrinths! -


Maverick, my love is; he thwarts challenges;


The cleverest geneticists can’t fathom him,


Priests can’t defeat him with venomous rhetoric;


They’d better quit; my love’s too competitive…


He’s still here, despite the Taliban, the Vatican,


And rap, ragga in their anger and arrogance,


Who call on my love with lit matches and paraffin -


Despite the fistfights and midnight batterings,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling,


My love’s still here and fiercely battling;


Because my love comes through anything –


My love comes through anything.  HERE

*David Kato, Anglican LGBT Activist, bludgeoned to death in Uganda, 2011, RIP

Lesbian football player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa in 2008, RIP

·  Thanks to Musa Okwonga
·  Thanks to Eudy Simelane, RIP
·  Thanks to David Kato, RIP
·  Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
·  Thanks to Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

AFRICA--THE ACTIVE MOBILISATION OF HOMOPHOBIC SENTIMENT: ¨The scapegoating of vulnerable minorities is a standard tactic used by political elites to deflect attention away from their own failures and compromises...¨

Anglican African/Ugandan LGBTI Activist, David Kato, RIP

OPINION:

It’s now almost three months since David Kato, a former teacher and a leading Ugandan gay rights activist, was beaten to death in Mukono Town in Uganda. Kato was living in Johannesburg in the salad days of our new democracy and, inspired by the progress made here in recognising the legal right of gay people to an equal humanity, he became a key figure in the Ugandan movement when he returned home in 1998.

Homosexuality was first criminalised in Uganda in the 19th century under the British colonial occupation. That criminalisation of a mode of expressing love and desire that is part of all human communities across space and time was sustained and updated after independence in 1962. As the new century unfolded there were active attempts, often driven by senior politicians and clerics with the support of an increasingly rabid tabloid press, to create a popular moral panic about homosexuality. Public vilification escalated and there were threats, calls for further state repression, censorship of gay people and organisations and a further tightening of a legal regime already so repressive that it carried a sentence of life imprisonment for certain forms of gay sex.

Of course the vilification of gay people by political elites was not unique to Uganda. In Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe’s public hostility stretched back to 1987 but reached a new level of intensity following his verbal attack on gay people at a book fair in Harare in 1996. In Namibia Sam Nujoma began a campaign of demonization in 1995, the former Kenyan dictator Daniel arap Moi launched his first major attack in 1999 and here in South Africa Jacob Zuma made extreme homophobic comments on Heritage Day in 2006. In the same year Olusegun Obasanjo introduced a bill that aimed to further criminalise homosexuality in Nigeria.

The sobering reality is that homosexuality is illegal for men in 29 African countries and for women in 20 African countries. But while it is essential to take this reality seriously, it is equally important to put African homophobia in a global context – homosexuality is illegal in 80 countries across the world and in many countries where there is not a repressive legal regime discrimination and harassment remain rife. In 2009 Ian Banyham, a gay man in his 60s, was beaten to death by two young women in Trafalgar Square in central London. In California the right of same sex couples to marry was affirmed in June 2008 and overturned by a right wing campaign five months later.

But we do need to take the active mobilisation of homophobic sentiment by political leaders in our region seriously. The scapegoating of vulnerable minorities is a standard tactic used by political elites to deflect attention away from their own failures and compromises. And the masculinisation of politics that usually accompanies elite driven homophobia can be used to offer ordinary men some power and status amidst the wreckage of societies that offer no real hope for a decent life to most people...please read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Richard Pithouse, Rhodes University
·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, Africa
·  Thanks to David Kato, Uganda, RIP

Ugandan Anglican David Kato was a true human rights activist bravely calling for an end to intolerance, violence, discrimination and, hate. All persons are entitled to basic human rights.

This tribute is done by friends, collegues and organizations that worked with David as a celebration of his life

REMEMBERING HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST and ANGLICAN HERO DAVID KATO

¨For those who knew, interacted with and shared the life and times of David, he impacted us in a most profound way. We can’t help but remember the passion, courage, energy and swiftness with which David executed his work.


David was a true human rights activist bravely calling for an end to intolerance, violence, discrimination and, hate. All persons are entitled to basic human rights. But in any society, it is easy to erode the rights of marginalized or minority groups, be it on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or other status. Commitment to human rights principles is most tested when we are asked to speak out for those at the edges of society.


As a member of the global human rights movement, David was such a voice on behalf of members of the gay community in Uganda who are routinely subject to arbitrary arrests, hate speech, torture, vigilante violence, and persecution. David had a vision of a better Uganda. One of tolerance and inclusion, where all people count equally.


David not only displayed a principled commitment, he also displayed energy, enthusiasm and pride in his human rights work. He consistently challenged intolerance and homophobia. His courage allowed him to take risks where others wouldn’t venture. He crisscrossed the country following up on arbitrary arrests, and documented cases of discrimination, torture and mistreatment of persons on the basis of their sexuality. For his efforts to uphold human rights, he was targeted, vilified, and threatened.


Fully aware of the risks his work involved, yet undeterred he was always on hand to respond to the never ending crisis situations confronting his community. He was never one to complain of work overload. He was never cowed by the numerous threats to his life and that of his collegues. Yet in all this he found it in himself to display gentleness, kindness and a sense of humor.


David who generously walked the extra mile to ease the pain of others, he gave his life selflessly so that others may have. His courage in the face of adversity was admirable. He suffered personal attacks, physical harm, yet his determination not to let fear, hostility and hatred deter him was inspirational.


Even when he suffered the momentary loss of energy and burnout, he had an amazing ability to re-energise.


We grieve with the family and friends at this sad moment of the demise of David.


We have a lost a fearless, committed, and cheerful human rights defender.


We will feel the emptiness long after you are gone, but renew our resolve to continue David’s struggle for a Uganda without hate, violence, and discrimination.


YOU have left a candle whose light will never be blown off,


We can only use it to light our own


We join the voices of all those condemning David’s senseless killing and call for a thorough, independent and impartial investigations into this brutal murder.¨   HERE

AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE

HIVOS

ASTRAEA

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS

AKIBA UHAKI

URGENT ACTION FUND

MAMA CASH

UHAI

THE FUND FOR GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS

EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PROJECT

·Thanks to Gay Kenya, sidebar
·Thanks to Denis Nzioka
·Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing
·Thanks to Betsy J´s, Photoart