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LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms

LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms

AT a shelter for lesbian women in Uganda's capital Kampala, gone are the days when the residents, having fled abuse and stigma at home, could breathe easy and be themselves. That came to an end a month ago when parliament passed some of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ legislation, which would criminalise the "promotion" of homosexuality and impose the death penalty for certain crimes involving gay sex. President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday that he supports the legislation but has requested some modifications from parliament, including provisions to "rehabilitate" gay people before he signs it. Staff at the shelter, a nondescript building in…
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Ugandan LGBTQ activist readies for the fight of his life

Ugandan LGBTQ activist readies for the fight of his life

WHEN Frank Mugisha came out two decades ago, being gay in Uganda could be lonely and uncomfortable, but it was rarely a matter of life and death. Since then, as Mugisha has emerged as the country's most prominent LGBTQ rights activist, the perils have multiplied. In 2011, his friend and colleague David Kato was bludgeoned to death. Mugisha regularly receives death threats. Politicians and religious organisations have fanned anti-gay sentiment and lobbied for harsh legislation, culminating in parliament's passage last month of a bill that would criminalise even identifying as LGBTQ. "The Ugandan population has been radicalised to fear and…
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