The LGBTI community in Uganda has never had an easy time of it. Homosexuality is illegal in the country, although the notorious ‘Kill the Gays’ bill was overturned in 2014. LGBTI Ugandans routinely face attacks, discrimination, bigotry, blackmail and extortion. Then, in August, things took a violent new turn.
At the beginning of Ugandan Pride Week, a vibrant pageant to crown Mr/Ms/Mx Uganda was under way in Kampala’s Club Venom when it was suddenly raided by the police. Sixteen participants were arrested, and many reported being photographed, beaten and humiliated by police, who dragged trans women by the hair and touched both trans men and women inappropriately to establish their ‘real gender’. One man was so terrified he jumped out of a fourth-floor window and broke two vertebrae.
