Things Always Get Worse Before They Get Better: The Life of a Homosexual in Uganda

Reading the text of the bill, I remarked to my partner that, according to the proposed law, we deserved the death penalty. Well, we are “serial offenders,” aren’t we? That was the lowest ebb in our lives. I remember that I felt the worst kind of despair. There was even something called the “homosexual touch”—as if our touch could spread homosexuality like a disease. We are lepers, to be shunned. The only thing good for us was death or life imprisonment: that is what our countrymen thought of us.

- Gay Uganda

With so much going on in our own lives and in our own country, it's easy to become isolated. But damn, things could be so much worse. This morning I read a story from a man who refers to himself as "Gay Uganda" (link here) It describes in painful detail the difficulty of being a gay man in a country that morally and legally abhors homosexuality. His form of suffering is one I could never imagine - discovery, denial, guilt, and constant fear. It's a reality that we would do well to understand because it shows us the very real consequences of prejudice and hate. And it is a story that is very apropos given the context of recent events.

On January 26, 2011, Uganda was thrust into the spotlight with the murder of David Kato Kisule, a teacher and high-profile human rights activist who was a leading figure in the underground LGBT rights movement. Shortly before being killed, his picture and address was featured along with roughly 100 other gay Ugandans in the popular tabloid, Rolling Stone, under the headline "Hang Them." Whereas many would be tempted to go into hiding, Kato actually took the case to court. The ensuing legal battle resulted in the dismantling of Rolling Stone and reparations of 1.5 million Ugandan shillings each to Kato and two other plaintiffs. But it also put a target on Kato's back and arguably led directly to his death.

Source: www.mantlethought.org

Unfortunately, this incident is the latest in a line of human rights disasters in a country that has long reviled homosexuality. The story was first reported in America in March, 2009 when three evangelical Christian Americans arrived in the Uganda capital to give a series of talks on the "Hidden and dark [gay] agenda." The talks were met with rapturous attention, and only one month later a Ugandan politician proposed the Anti Homosexuality Bill of 2009. The exact text of the bill can be read here, but for those who want the abridged version it goes on to define acts of "homosexuality" and "aggressive homosexuality" (the latter including serial homosexuality or having engaged in more than one act) and calls for anything from a 7 year prison sentence to life sentences to death penalty for those that are ruled guilty. The bill passed September 2009.

Upon learning this brief history, my first impulse was to wonder what in the world happened to all the progress we were supposed to have made as a human society. But it would be premature to forget how far we've come. Our own country has seen similar battles for equality throughout its history - abolition of slavery and ethnic equality, women's suffrage, immigration, gay rights, etc. Some of these have seen equal drama and bloodshed, and all are ongoing to some extent. But in each of these cases, one thing remains true: progress will always win. I can guarantee that in a few years, decades, or whatever those opposed to gay marriage in America will be considered among the distant minority. Uganda probably has a much longer battle ahead of it, but things always get worse before they get better. Still, let's not forget the story of Gay Uganda and the consequences that it teaches us. These battles take a heavy toll.