UGANDA: CAPTURING THE HATE
CAPTURING THE HATE
The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act – previously known as the “Kill The Gays” bill – has been passed by the Parliament Of Uganda albeit with the death penalty dropped in favour of life in prison for convicted homosexuals. The bill was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on 24 February 2014.
Award-winning documentary photographer, Bénédicte Desrus, whose work has appeared in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, spent over two years in Uganda photographing the people and events around the Act: some are featured in the following pages. “When I arrived in Uganda and heard about the anti-homosexuality bill, I felt it was essential to document what, I consider, a violation of human rights,” says Desrus.
DNA: It appears these people are living in slums, yet they are focused on persecuting gays. Why do you think homosexuality is more pressing than, say, poverty? Bénédicte Desrus: Politicians use homosexuality to derail focus f rom the real issues and problems that ordinary people face, because it appeals to their cultural and religious prejudices in a rather blinding way. Not ever ybody in Uganda lives in a slum. In fact, there is a growing middle class that lives side-by-side with the slum dwellers like in any other developing country. Do you think the anti-gay movement in Uganda was begun by US Evangelicals? The US Evangelicals are not really involved. If they were, that might have been in the early days of the bill, between 2007 and 2011, and even then they would have only been exploiting already existent homophobia. The recent fer vour has been more political than religious, with politicians looking to score quick points to make up for their failings. Were you able to meet with any homosexuals in Uganda? How are they doing? Access was not easy at f irst, but with time I won the trust of closeted homosexuals who fear for their lives and live in isolation. I met several gay activists who stand up for the LGBTQI community in Uganda, including Auf Usaam Mukwaya, who was forced to f lee to France as a political refugee. Their lives are difficult, but for many of them it is important to stand up to this hate. The anti-gay bill was an unprecedented moment for the gay community. They became more united, but nobody knows what the future will bring. It was upsetting to find how homophobia is so strong in some places.