By Gracie Lunah Steph for Kuchu Times In a world that too often erases disabled and queer lives, July’s Disability Pride Month offers a rare moment to claim space and demand visibility. For many queer disabled people, especially in Uganda, pride is not a parade; it is a risk, a hope, a survival strategy. This […]
Opinion Piece
So all these mental gymnastics about how “they/them” doesn’t exist in African languages? Yeah, nice try. Our languages are more nuanced than we give them credit for. The problem isn’t the grammar, it’s the refusal to listen when someone tells you how they want to be seen.
Corporations and entities talk a big game when it comes to standing up for the marginalized, but when push comes to shove and they have to actually make bottom line decisions to stand with these communities, their “values” are not that deep afterall.
Let us also be clear: visibility without protection is violence. Representation without resources is a photo op. We do not want to be the rainbow on your annual report if we are not also in your budget.
Growing up queer in Uganda is not for the faint of heart. You are constantly told you don’t belong, that you’re a “Western import,” a “curse,” a “danger to tradition.” But here’s the thing they don’t tell you: being gay doesn’t make me any less Ugandan.
We are not fooled.
We see the far right’s interest in African bodies for what it is: a continuation of millennia-old exploitation. We are aware of their desire to control our minds, our bodies, and our lands in service of their capitalist and neoliberal agendas. History has taught us that Europe’s interest in Africa or African bodies has never risen from any motive other than a twisted desire for domination, powered by greed, self-interest, and an expansionist ethos.
It’s us again. The gays. Yes, the sole reason Uganda’s corruption index refuses to budge. While everyone else is stealing lunch money from government coffers, somehow it’s our glittery fingers doing the pilfering. We’re in our secret gay headquarters—maybe a rainbow-colored war room with disco balls—conspiring day and night to make government officials embezzle funds. […]
I could go on and on about the ridiculous nature of the Parliament’s position on these sanctions but the people most at risk, LGBT Ugandans happen to be the proverbial grass on which these giant elephants are fighting. While the Speaker and her cronies blame the somehow all-powerful homosexuals and “bum shafters” for every single problem in their lives (they will soon be blamed for the traffic on Kampala’s roads or the speaker having a bad hair day), LGBT Ugandans are still being harassed, doxxed, murdered, arrested and evicted because of the bad law they orchestrated.
One of the primary reasons they offered for their decision is that the law goes against their values. Just as you would not bring pork to a Muslim picnic, you should not anger the people who are lending you money by going against their fundamental values and beliefs. This does not negate your personal convictions; you do not become a Muslim because you honored their ideals and did not bring meat to their picnic. While laws and regulations are a little more complicated than that, violating an institution’s principles and values by criminalizing, imprisoning, and murdering the most marginalized members of the community it seeks to serve is an obvious justification for action.
Legislators do not only have a duty to legislate Law but impliedly, to pass good Law not influenced by biased public opinion but informed by International and Regional standards, most of which Uganda has signed and ratified. The Bill is a direct attack on sexual and gender identity. Article 21 of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda as amended guarantees equality and freedom for all from discrimination on the ground of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, or social or economic standing, political opinion or disability. ‘Discrimination on the ground of sex’ appends respect for a private life, respect for family and a home.