Category: East Africa
Ugandan court to rule on shutdown of LGBT ally organisation Chapter Four
Uganda's High Court in Kampala has set March 18 as the date to rule on an application seeking to quash the government's decision to indefinitely suspe [...]
Celebrating the memory of murdered gay rights defender, David Kato, eleven years on
Human rights defenders in Uganda have launched a lecture series in memory of David Kato, the Ugandan human rights activist and teacher who was murdere [...]
Unchanged: A lesbian Christian’s journey through ‘ex-gay’ life
Groundbreaking Ugandan LGBTQ activist Val Kalende explains how "gay conversion therapy" failed her and how she has sought to reconcile her Christian f [...]
For gay Ugandans, no tears at death of repressive homophobe Simon Lokodo
Simon Lokodo, an energetic and persistent persecutor of the Ugandan LGBTI community, died Jan. 29 in Switzerland -- a demise that was greeted with bit [...]
Uganda replaces intelligence officer hit with US sanctions
The Ugandan government has relieved Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho of his role as Commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), weeks after the [...]
Paul Ssemwogerere, who calls homosexuality abnormal, installed as Ugandan archbishop
The Most Rev. Bishop Paul Ssemwogere has today (Jan. 25) officially been installed as the Archbishop of Uganda's Kampala Archdiocese, replacing the l [...]
Kenya lawmakers seek ban on surrogate mothers for LGBTQ people
Kenyan lawmakers are considering a bill to prohibit gays and lesbians from using surrogate mothers to have children.
From the African Human R [...]
Dr Stella Nyanzi, Ugandan LGBT ally, flees for safety to Germany
Ugandan LGBT ally and academic scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi has fled to Germany with her children over fears of government persecution, arrest and torture [...]
Paul Ssemogerere, who says homosexuality is against nature, appointed Archbishop of Kampala
Bishop Paul Ssemogerere, who has previously argued that homosexuality is against the order of nature and the teachings of the Catholic Church, was app [...]
Ugandan LGBT ally Sylvia Tamale receives honorary doctorate
Professor Sylvia Tamale, a Ugandan LGBT ally and academic scholar, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Pretoria in Sou [...]
Ugandan LGBT ally lawyer Nicholas Opiyo wins Human Rights Tulip award
Ugandan human rights lawyer and LGBT ally Nicholas Opiyo has won this year's Human Rights Tulip Award for his work protecting civil liberties and advo [...]
LGBTI activists live in fear amid renewed protests in Sudan
Queer activists in Sudan say they're living in fear after police on Monday fired tear gas at protesters during renewed pro-democracy protests seeking [...]
U.S. sanctions Uganda intelligence chief over ‘serious human rights abuse’
The United States government has imposed economic and travel sanctions on a senior intelligence official in Uganda, Major General Abel Kandiho, the co [...]
Uganda gay rights activists renew call: ‘End Inequalities, End AIDS’
LGBT rights defenders have reiterated the call to the Ugandan government to fast-track efforts aimed at ending inequalities in access to care, treatme [...]
New project aims to document Pride flags all over the world
A global educational project called "Flag in the Map" will document how LGBT people display the Pride flag all over the world. ReportOUT and the Gilbe [...]
African rights commission hears appeal to halt repression of LGBTI Ugandans
The government of Uganda has been urged to repeal provisions of the law criminalising consensual same-sex relations because they provide legal cover f [...]
Ugandan transgender community marks Trans Day of Remembrance
The LGBTQI+ community and human rights defenders in Uganda joined the International community on Nov 20 to commemorate the 22nd Transgender Day of Rem [...]
Gay man survives homophobic attack in eastern Uganda
A member of the LGBT community in eastern Uganda was attacked at home on Nov. 25 by men brandishing machetes and chanting homophobic slurs.
F [...]
Mauritius: Island nation’s Supreme Court weighs sodomy law
The Supreme Court of the island nation of Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, is deliberating whether to overturn the country's law that provides [...]
Biden is silent when a loud message on global LGBT rights is needed
COMMENTARY: The United States has missed important opportunities to send a strong, clear, much-needed message about the nation's commitment to global [...]
Sudan LGBT organizations condemn military coup
A trio of Sudanese LGBT human rights organizations released a statement condemning the recent coup in the northeast African country and calling for in [...]
Report pleads: Improve grim living conditions of LGBT refugees in Kenya
A new report highlights the difficult living conditions faced by hundreds of LGBT asylum seekers living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya. [...]
Stella Nyanzi: In memoriam for my intersex son
Grace was born intersex, with both male and female sexual characteristics -- a variation from traditional gender norms that his parents tried to corre [...]
Sudan coup adds uncertainties for LGBTQ+ community
A military coup in Sudan today cast new uncertainty on the prospect that the nation's LGBTIQ+ community might gain recognition of its human rights as [...]
Queer lives in fragile Sudan: Amid turmoil, glimmers of hope
Queer people have long been excluded from Sudans' political life and social mainstream, but some believe the country's currently tumultuous transition [...]
Uganda issues corrected national ID document for trans woman
The Ugandan government has issued a national Identification document to Cleopatra Kambugu, a transgender woman, clearly identifying her as a woman, in [...]
Religious leaders in Uganda commit to LGBTQ inclusivity
More than 35 religious leaders in Uganda have vowed to preach, practice, and promote inclusivity in their places of worship, saying that exclusion has [...]
Activists want Kenyan gays’ rights on agenda when Biden meets Kenyatta
A section of Kenyan human rights defenders want US President Joe Biden to raise the issue of safety and security of homosexuals in Kenya when the two [...]
Uganda, US faith leaders discuss LGBTQI rights in Africa
Faith leaders from the United States and Uganda called upon churches in Africa to open their doors to LGBTQI persons at a virtual conference organised [...]
Introducing 7 African LGBTQ+ activists working for change
Vogue Magazine published an article last month profiling seven outstanding activists fighting to improve LGBTQ+ rights across Africa
The articl [...]
Uganda’s Constitutional Court begins hearing challenge to HIV criminalization law
The Constitutional Court of Uganda has begun hearing a landmark case on the right to health, in which LGBT and human rights defenders sued the state f [...]
Uganda’s Constitutional Court annuls Anti-Pornography Act
Uganda's Constitutional Court has annulled sections of the Anti-Pornography Act 2014, ruling that the clauses were vague, unconstitutional, and uncert [...]
Ugandan President sends new anti-gay bill back to Parliament
Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni has declined to assent to the Sexual Offences Bill (2021) passed by Parliament in May, which included stiffer pena [...]
Amid continued criminalisation, Uganda endorses LGBT access for HIV treatment
Despite ongoing criminalization of men who have sex with men and transgender people, the government of Uganda is attempting to include them in nationa [...]
COVID-19 complicates access to TB, HIV services for Uganda MSM
Activists in Uganda are saying that men who have sex with men face increased difficulties in accessing essential health services like tuberculosis (TB [...]
Food starts to reach hungry LGBT Ugandans stranded by lockdown
Emergency food deliveries have started to get through to LGBT Ugandans, sex workers and human rights defenders who were left stranded and hungry by th [...]
Senior Uganda government health rights ally Prof. Anthony Mbonye has died
Prof. Anthony Mbonye, the former Director General of Uganda's Health Services who has been instrumental in advocating for healthcare access for homose [...]
Gay and trans criminalization fuels HIV spread: UNAIDS
Criminalization of transgender people, homosexuality, and sex work holds back global advances in the fight against HIV/AIDS, according to a new report [...]
Times are changing in Uganda: Parliament gets a progressive clerk
In what appears to be a positive shift in state policy thinking, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Adolf Mwesige, a liberal and progress [...]
Trans Ugandans issue desperate food appeal as lockdown bites harder
Transgender rights defenders in Uganda have issued a desperate appeal for food for the transgender community amid the ongoing COVID-19 countrywide loc [...]
AIDS conference organisers silent as violence sweeps host South Africa
Organisers of the 2021 International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) have remained silent about prospects for [...]
Ugandan clinic denies using donor funds to offer ‘conversion therapy’ to gays
A Ugandan clinic at the center of accusations of covertly using donor funds to offer "conversion therapy" to turn homosexuals straight has issued a st [...]
Uganda lockdown hampers rural LGBT access to life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs
Gay rights activists in Uganda are reporting difficulty in delivering life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive community members during the o [...]
Anti-gay “conversion therapy” at African clinics run by aid-funded groups
Staff at health clinics funded by the US and international donors in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania offer secret "conversion therapy" that attempts to "c [...]
Activists cheer new University of York college named for David Kato
Gay rights activists in Uganda have welcomed a decision by the University of York in England to name a new college after Ugandan human rights defender [...]
Gay Ugandans warned to abide by Covid-19 restrictions
Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the umbrella LGBTIQ+ entity in Uganda, wants its community members to protect themselves from Covid-19 by following a [...]
Uganda court OKs bail for 42 arrestees
A Ugandan magistrate yesterday approved release on bail for 42 people arrested May 31 at a party that police thought was a gay wedding.
Get [...]
IDAHOT 2021: Foreign missions express solidarity with LGBTQI+ Ugandans
Diplomatic missions of the European Union, the United States and the United Nations came out strongly in support of LGBTQI+ people as Uganda and the i [...]
Uganda police arrest 44 at alleged gay wedding
Responding to a report of an alleged gay wedding under way yesterday, police in Kampala, Uganda, raided a party at the Happy Family youth shelter [...]
Uganda: LGBTQI access to health services remains problematic
A study by Uganda's Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) has revealed that LGBTQI persons in Uganda continue to face barriers in accessi [...]