News & Opinion
As Gaye Magazine previously reported, the Ugandan parliament passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that would ban citizens from identifying as LGBTQ+ in the country. The bill has been deemed “one of the world's most anti-gay laws” according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Merely identifying as gay or a part of the LGBTQ+ community would be illegal for the first time. If signed into law by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni the bill would require friends, family and members of the community to report individuals in same-sex relationships and those who are gay to the authorities in which they could face life in prison and even the death penalty.
Take these 3 Steps to Help LGBTQ+ Citizens in Uganda
1) Support LGBTQI+ Rights Organization "Let's Walk Uganda" - Donate to their GoFundMe
Let's Walk Uganda is a national organization that was started in February 2016 in Kampala, Uganda. The Organization is known to have established the first-ever safe housing shelter for homeless LGBTQI+ persons in Uganda, among so many other activities and projects it does for the well-being of the LGBTQI+ community in Uganda. Today, Let's Walk Uganda is acutely supporting the LGBTQI+ community in these difficult circumstances by fostering political advocacy, offering legal support, shelters and supporting safe flight possibilities. Due to the increasing state repressions, Let's Walk Uganda and its partners however urgently require funding to keep up and extend our humanitarian work in this emergency.
The organization has created a GoFundMe, click here to donate.
2) Sign the Online Petition to ask Ugandan President Museveni to Not Sign the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 into Law.
Commissioner Melanie Nathan of the African Human Rights Coalition has written a letter to the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni asking him to not sign the act into law. The organization is asking all to sign their online petition to be accompanied by the letter. Sign the petition here. Read the full letter and more about the AfricanHRC here.
3) Support & Donate to SMUG - Sexual Minorities Uganda!
According to Human Rights Watch, Uganda’s National Bureau for Non-governmental Organizations banned Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a prominent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights organization, for not having officially registered with it. Before being banned, SMUG was the largest LGBTQ+ organization in Uganda and had provided education on sexuality and advocated for health services for LGBTQ people since 2004.
Frank Mugisha, SMUG’s director, informed Human Rights Watch that in 2016 the country’s name registration body, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), had refused to approve SMUG’s name – which is a requirement to register as a nongovernmental organization. URSB said that registering SMUG’s name would be “undesirable and un-registrable” for a group that advocates for the rights and well-being of LGBTQ people.
Donate to help this organization via their official website: https://smuginternational.org/
Follow them on Twitter here.