Blog
Published on February 16, 2010
Julius Kaggwa, a Ugandan human rights activist campaigning against the anti-homosexuality bill recently introduced in Uganda, analyzes the effects for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community in today’s Huffington Post.
Kaggwa’s story illustrates the harassment the LGBT community face regularly:
In an attempt to determine the cause of my sexual variance, a dentist once
asked me if there were witches in my family. In addition to my dentist’s
unwelcome inquiries, I’ve had my house set on fire, had several demands for
invasive body searches as a prerequisite for job interviews and church
membership, and lost a job due to slanderous media coverage about my sexuality.
My personal experiences speak to the harassment that affects LGBT Ugandans every day.
The bill threatens to worsen persecution, sanctioning forms of discrimination against gays and LGBT individuals:
The more controversial provisions of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would
sentence HIV-positive homosexuals to death for their sexual acts, make it
illegal to publicly defend LGBT rights, or provide social and medical services to LGBT individuals, and turn Ugandan citizens into anti-homosexual informers.
This piece is the first in a series of blogs Human Rights First has organized around the Human Rights Summit – which takes place February 17-19, organized by Human Rights First and Freedom House.
The event will be streamed live from Human Rights First’s site. Kaggwa will be joining an impressive list of speakers – including the Dalai Lama – to present at one of the panels. Come back to watch.
