Anti-gay law prompts LGBT Ugandans to go ‘underground’

[William769]

A Ugandan HIV advocate told the Washington Blade on Friday that gays and lesbians in his country have gone “underground” since President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill that imposes a life sentence upon anyone found guilty of same-sex sexual relations.

“The community is very scared, very worried,” said Dickson Mujuni of the RPL AIDS Foundation during a telephone interview from Kampala, the Ugandan capital. “They’re underground.”

Mujuni said LGBT Ugandans remain afraid of blackmail and extortion since Museveni signed the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law on Feb. 24.

He told the Blade the police will “make sure you talk about all your other neighbors” if someone turns a person whom they suspect is gay into the authorities. Mujuni added Ugandan media outlets have published more pictures of gays and lesbians since a tabloid on Tuesday published a list of the country’s “200 top homos.”

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/02/28/anti-gay-law-prompts-lgbt-ugandans-go-underground/

What a disgrace on humanity.

[Behind the Aegis]

1. I can't blame them.

Given some of the things we have recently seen in that part of the world, I am really afraid for these people.

[William769]

2. Me too.

I just wish I knew what more I could do.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. That's the head scratcher.

What can we do to help them, the people of Nigeria, Russia? We can keep pressure on our own governments, but the facts on the ground there aren't good and are getting worse.

[William769]

4. Whats even worse is a hospital that is under construction for AIDS patients has been halted

because of the current climate there. Yes Homosexuals were to be treated there along with woman and children.

It's spiraling out of control.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Who would want to seek treatment there when it's considered a gay disease?

And if there's even a sniff of suspicion that you're gay, you'll end up in prison or dead. The hateful, ignorant bigots in Uganda think that if the kill and imprison all the LGBTs, HIV/AIDS will miraculously disappear. They are condemning millions of their own people to death, solely because they think God hates gay people.

[theHandpuppet]

7. Someone on DU brought up this scary scenario the other day

That the government would use medical and hospital records to hunt down anyone suspected of being gay and that would start with anyone who's been treated for HIV/AIDS.

[William769]

9. Sorry I don't know how I missed this post.

Thats exactly right. It's a total mess there now.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Nigeria and Cameroon have oil

For that fact our government will do nothing. The Ugandan president wasted no time in snuggling up with Vladimir Putin. There's a match made in gay heaven, huh.

The only think we can do, as I see it, is pressure our government to offer asylum to LGBTs from these countries. And to be honest, I don't think they will because it would be highly unpopular.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. I knew Nigeria did, I did not know about Cameroon.

I agree, Nigeria will snuggle with Russia or China because they don't give a shit about GLBT lives. I feel awful about having to work for asylum, because I wouldn't want to leave my country, and I imagine they don't want to either. But, in the interest of their safety, even their very lives, it will likely be the only solution.

The Netherlands: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/issues/asylum_in_europe/country_by_country/nl

Scotland offers asylum to Ugandan Gays: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/asylum-offer-extended-to-ugandans.1393597739

From the IGLA: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/issues/asylum_in_europe/country_by_country

[Cha]

10. I can't even imagine how horribly worried that

they actually are, William!

The Ugandan Gays are the Object of a Sadistic Witchhunt.

[Starry Messenger]

11. K&R

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Desmond TuTu spoke strongly against this horror, but Pope Francis Two Shoes remains silent

offering up his tacit approval for the anti gay laws and actions. There are some on DU who want to paint him as 'progressive' and redefine 'progressives' to mean 'anti gay, anti choice and really rich people who mutter unenforced platitudes about poverty while collecting high end rents on commercial investment properties'.