We genuinely hope that as you go through these pages, for the queer community that this will be the beacon of hope you have been hoping for this Pride month. For the rest of the community, we hope through these pages you paint a picture of who LGBTQ+ are away from all the lies being peddled by the anti-rights movement.

As we gather as a nation to celebrate the heroes that fought to bring ‘freedom’ it is important to ponder on what that means for Ugandans. If I as a landlord, among the things I have to do is turn into a tenant watcher lest I am imprisoned for 8 years for failure to report my tenants as homosexuals, am I then enjoying a free state? If as a journalist as I write this article, my hands shake above my keyboard because press freedom has been rendered a myth, am I then enjoying freedom? Millions of Ugandans actually belong to the LGBT+ community, what is there for them to celebrate of this heroes’ day when every day we are woken by gruesome pictures of people beaten or worse murdered!

While the Ugandan LGBT+ community might not be able to recreate stone wall due to the country’s high level of disregard for human rights, this statement is a call to the world this Pride to match for Uganda. The community recognizes and appreciates the support we are receiving during this time and urges the rest of the world to continue to put pressure on Uganda to repeal this law.