KAMPALA, April 13 (Reuters) – When Frank Mugisha came out two decades ago, being gay in Uganda could be lonely and uncomfortable, but it was rarely a matter of life and death.
Since then, as Mugisha has emerged as the country’s most prominent LGBTQ rights activist, the perils have multiplied. In 2011, his friend and colleague David Kato was bludgeoned to death. Mugisha regularly receives death threats.
Politicians and religious organisations have fanned anti-gay sentiment and lobbied for harsh legislation, culminating in parliament’s passage last month of a bill that would criminalise even identifying as LGBTQ.
“The Ugandan population has been radicalised to fear and hate homosexuals,” Mugisha, 38, told Reuters during an interview outside the capital, Kampala.
“If I was seven, nine, twelve, fourteen, I don’t think I would tell anyone I am gay right now,” he said.
And yet, Mugisha says he will not give an inch in the face of the new bill, which is awaiting President Yoweri Museveni’s signature.
The bill passed with near unanimous support in parliament. If Museveni signs it – as he is widely expected to – Mugisha’s work could land him in jail under a provision that punishes the “promotion” of homosexuality with up to 20 years in prison.
But Mugisha said he feels an obligation to fight back on behalf of LGBTQ Ugandans, many of whom have left the country or fled their homes for safe houses since the bill was passed.
“I guess I am going to be in trouble a lot because I am not going to stop,” Mugisha said.
The bill also imposes the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, which includes having gay sex while HIV-positive.
COMING OUT
A practising Catholic typically seen in a blue suit and white shirt, Mugisha had what he calls a normal childhood, going to school and playing soccer in his Kampala neighbourhood.
