Category: East Africa
2020 was a ‘dark’ year for the LGBTQI community in Uganda
The safety of sexual minority communities in Uganda has been a big concern for years, but 2020 will go down as one of their "darkest" years, especiall [...]
Uganda election: Challenger cites issues; president cites homosexuals
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has again injected the issue of homosexuality into his reelection campaign. Challenger Bobi Wine declared it an atte [...]
Repression in Sudan creates an LGBTQ+ underground
Sudan is making slow progress, but at least three Sudanese LGBTQ+ organizations can only do their work in secret -- - illegally and with no bank accou [...]
Uganda: Media bias leads to harassment of trans women
COMMENTARY. Prejudiced media reporting sets the stage for the ongoing problem of Ugandan transgender women being harassed and stigmatized.
From [...]
Businesses of at-risk Ugandans will get Covid-19 aid
Uganda is among five countries that will benefit from a new fund which will support social entrepreneurs and micro-businesses owned by key populations [...]
LGBTQI advocate Richard Lusimbo honored for fighting HIV stigma
LGBTQI advocate Richard Lusimbo is one of six Ugandans recognized by the International Community of Women Living with HIV / Eastern Africa (ICWEA) for [...]
Ugandan-born trans woman wins Canadian award
Ugandan-born LGBTQI+ activist, refugee and trans woman Christopher Nkambwe is the winner of the prestigious Community One Foundation’s Steinert & [...]
Uganda: Delays leave human rights lawyer in prison without bail
Ugandan officials today extended the pre-trial detention of human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo by scheduling his case in the courtroom of a judge with [...]
Uganda police seize human rights lawyer probing violence
Ugandan police today seized human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo from a restaurant where he was eating, forced him into a van and drove away with him.
[...]
Despite police brutality, Uganda wants to host AIDS conference
Activists fighting against AIDS and for human rights in Uganda are pushing to reverse the decision to move next year's African AIDS conference out of [...]
Uganda: COSF 20 human rights abuse case adjourned to March
A Ugandan court has adjourned to March 2021 a case in which 20 LGBT youths are suing a prisons official and a municipal authority leader over torture [...]
Appeal to journalists: Report accurately about LGBT Ugandans
Journalists and social media writers need to do a better job of reporting accurately and consistently about LGBT Ugandans. That was the call made by V [...]
Violence in Uganda: Anti-AIDS conference cancels 2021 plans
The sponsors of the African anti-AIDS conference ICASA have decided to move the gathering out of Uganda because of civil unrest there. A petition by h [...]
Poverty is not a crime: African Court rules against vagrancy laws
The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights has unanimously ruled against ‘vagrancy’ laws that are used by post-independence former colonies to vic [...]
Police brutality: Activists demand ICASA boycott of Uganda
African human rights defenders are seeking to move the preeminent African anti-AIDS conference out of Uganda because of human rights abuses by Uganda' [...]
Advocates to Biden: Here’s how to fix Trump’s LGBTI abuses abroad
LGBTI and human rights advocates at the Council for Global Equality have pointed advice for how the upcoming Biden-Harris administration can undo anti [...]
Uganda gays, key populations elect members of health panel
LGBTQ+ Ugandans, sex workers and other Ugandans most at risk of HIV infections have elected their two representatives to the panel overseeing health p [...]
Homophobic Tanzania seeks close ties to gay-friendly Joe Biden
The homophobic Tanzanian President, Dr John Magufuli, has sent a belated congratulatory message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-e [...]
LGBTIQ activist Po Kimani needs our help to battle cancer
A prominent Kenyan LGBTIQ rights and social justice activist is undergoing cancer treatment for the fourth time, and friends have issued a call to sup [...]
Dutch claim: Criminals help Ugandan asylum seekers appear gay
Immigration officials in the Netherlands say a criminal network has been charging Ugandan refugees about 2,500 euros ($3,000) to help them qualify for [...]
Trans woman among four activists eyeing Uganda health posts
Three LGBT activists and one defender of drug users' human rights have expressed interest in representing Ugandans most at risk of HIV infection on t [...]
LGBT Ugandans to elect members of national health panel
Ugandan homosexuals, sex workers, drug users and other key populations at higher risk of contracting HIV are set to elect new representatives to the G [...]
Online uproar over Ugandan lesbian couple’s wedding photo
A photograph of Ugandan gospel singer Julie Mutesasira kissing her female partner after their wedding was still trending online in Uganda a week after [...]
Report: Uganda Police are No. 1 violator of LGBT people’s rights
The Uganda Police Force is the single biggest violator of human rights of sexual minorities, a new report found.
From the African Human Right [...]
U.S. election: Biden pledges to act against anti-gay nations
U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden says that, if elected on Nov. 3, he will "restore America's global leadership on LGBTQ+ issues and actively comb [...]
Homeless LGBTQ persons in Uganda get shelters
LGBTQ rights activists have opened a total of five shelters to house homeless LGBTQ persons in Uganda.
From the African Human Rights Media [...]
Two Ugandan officials now risk arrest on charges of torturing LGBT youths
Arrest warrants have been issued against two Ugandan officials who repeatedly ignored orders to appear in court to answer charges of torturing LGBT yo [...]
Uganda milestone: LGBTQI+ advocates welcome HRAPF’s permanent home
The Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) has been lauded by LGBTQI+ rights advocates and allies in Uganda for acquiring a new and perman [...]
Ugandan gay ally Sylvia Tamale: How to revive African ideals of social justice
It's time for Africans to shake off the lessons of colonialism and revive African ideals of social justice, Ugandan scholar and LGBTQI+ ally Dr. Sylv [...]
Charged with torture, anti-gay Ugandan officials begin their defense
Attorneys for homophobic Ugandan officials facing criminal charges of torture and inhumane and degrading treatment began revealing their defense strat [...]
‘Kill the Gays’ bill author David Bahati wins primary election
David Bahati, the homophobic Ugandan member of parliament best known as the author of the 2014 bill that originally called for the death penalty for h [...]
To fight AIDS, Uganda finally imports water-based sex lubricants
Uganda government has finally allowed the importation and distribution of water-based sex lubricants, an AIDS-fighting device that officials had shun [...]
Gay rights activists get Covid-19 protective supplies
Over 86 LGBTI and mainstream human rights organisations in Uganda have received supplies of Personal Protective Equipment from the human rights organi [...]
Ugandan activists start condom coalition to fight AIDS
LGBT-rights and right-to-health advocates in Uganda have launched a coalition to focus specifically on access and availability of AIDS-fighting condom [...]
Activists to Uganda: $64 fee for Covid-19 tests is ‘suicidal’
Thirty-eight LGBT and right-to-health organisations in Uganda have issued an open letter to Uganda's health minister, Dr Ruth Aceng, expressing deep [...]
LGBTI in Uganda: How to survive a pandemic
Get ready for "In the Eyes of a Pandemic", a documentary about how the Ugandan LGBTI and sex workers communities are coping with Covid-19. See the tra [...]
Uganda officials ignore criminal summonses for LGBTQ torture
A Ugandan town councilman and a Ugandan prisons officer each ignored the summons requiring him to show up in court yesterday to face criminal charges [...]
Ugandans face summons over LGBT torture charges
A Ugandan town councilman and a Ugandan prisons officer have been summoned to face criminal charges of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment con [...]
Ugandan candidate Stella Nyanzi appeals for LGBTQ contributions
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan queer scholar running for Parliament, is seeking campaign contributions from gay celebrities Ellen DeGeneres and Sir Elto [...]
Somaliland: ‘Don’t come back, they’ll kill you for being gay’
For 20-year-old Mohamed, a visit to his boyfriend was a dangerous act that risked landing them both in prison and might get them killed. That's gay li [...]
UNAIDS chief: We must focus anti-AIDS efforts on stigmatised minorities
The world's fight against HIV / AIDS needs to focus on homosexuals, sex workers, injecting drug users and migrant populations, says the leader of the [...]
20 Ugandans sue, citing torture during arrests, in prison
Twenty homeless Ugandan youths have sued a Kitalya Prison official and a Ugandan town council chairman who pushed for their arrest March 29 at an LGBT [...]
Sudan drops death penalty for homosexuality
The East African nation of Sudan has removed the death penalty as a punishment for homosexuality, leaving life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for [...]
Ugandan LGBTI activist appointed Pan Africa ILGA program manager
A Ugandan HIV and LGBTI activist, Richard Lusimbo, has been appointed program manager for Pan Africa ILGA, the LGBTI advocacy organization that serves [...]
Released from Ugandan prison, Cosf-20 seek probe of torture
Twenty LGBT Ugandans who spent 50 days on remand in a Ugandan prison on Covid-19-related charges have filled a complaint seeking an investigation of t [...]
LGBT refugees coalition condemns Kenya violence
A coalition of LGBT refugees in East Africa wants authorities in Kenya and globally to speak out against violence meted out against queer refugees in [...]
Uganda: Court awards $1,341 to each of 19 jailed LGBT youths
A High Court judge in Uganda has awarded damages of 5 million Ugandan shillings (about US $1,341) to each of 19 LGBT youths who were imprisoned for 50 [...]
Day 50: Freedom for 19 LGBT Ugandans, finally
Ugandan prison officials finally released 19 LGBT men today, a day after prosecutors dropped charges that the men violated Covid-19 lockdown rules by [...]
Facing no charges, 19 LGBT Ugandans remain in prison
Nineteen members of Uganda's LGBT community are spending a 50th night in prison even though the country's Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) dropped [...]
Stella Nyanzi, Ugandan LGBT ally, arrested at Covid-19 protest
Ugandan LGBT ally and academic scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi was arrested today in Kampala at a public protest demanding food for women and vulnerable peop [...]