A major LGBTQ+ activist was brutally stabbed & Uganda’s anti-gay law is to blame

The resurgence of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and draconian laws in Africa has led to a surge of homophobic attacks across the continent, further endangering LGBTQ+ people whose lives were already at risk.

These anti-LGBTQ+ laws not only criminalize same-sex relationships but also systematically target LGBTQ+ activists. Steven Kabuye, a prominent Ugandan LGBTQ+ rights activist, was recently stabbed and left for dead outside his home by two men on a motorcycle who had been following him for a number of days. Graphic video footage shared on X shows Kabuye writhing in pain, a visible laceration stretched across his arm and a knife embedded in his abdomen. 

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One HIV-positive Ugandan likened the situation to “a modern-day genocide.” 

Kabuye, an activist and editor of Coloured Voices Media Foundation-Truth to LGBTQ Uganda, was ambushed on his way to work. His helmet-wearing assailants swung the knife at him, aiming at his neck, which he shields with his right arm in the video. As he attempted to flee, the attackers chased him and stabbed him in the stomach. Kabuye was discovered by residents and taken to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery.

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Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, recently signed into law one of the most severe anti-gay bills in the world. The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 stipulates long prison sentences and capital punishments for “aggravated homosexuality.” It has also intensified homophobic sentiment nationwide. A surge in attacks and arrests has been reported all over the country since the signing of the law. LGBTQ+ rights activists said the bill has led to a rise in abuse, including torture, rape, and evictions, against LGBTQ+ Ugandans by private citizens.

Kabuye, who is still recovering, disclosed on X that he’s already been harassed by the police since the attack. He said they forcefully entered his house searching for lubricants, rainbow flags, or any other incriminating items they could use as evidence to charge him under the Anti-Homosexuality Act. He said he believes the failed attempt on his life was a planned assassination.

A similar incident happened in 2011 in the tragic story of David Kato, a Ugandan teacher and LGBTQ+ rights activist. Considered a father of Uganda’s gay rights movement, Kato was murdered in cold blood after winning a court victory over a tabloid that called for homosexuals to be killed.

Kabuye went on to reveal that after being denied entry into his home, police arrested his flatmate and tortured and threatened him with forced anal examinations in a bid to get him to confess that he and Steven were lovers – at the same time asking him to stop the international community from putting pressure on them or he would be falsely charged with attempted murder.

Kabuye wrote on X, “When they came to get a statement from me, they kept on asking me questions like, ‘Who sponsors you?, How and when did you become gay? Have you ever engaged in any sexual activities with any man?’ Questions unrelated to the case at hand. They just didn’t want to accept it was a hate crime or an attempted murder/assassination.” 

Another LGBTQ+ activist, Ronald Agaba, who has been speaking up and demanding justice for Kabuye, said the Ugandan police are trying to cover up the crime and are busy blaming the victim. He went on to post screenshots of the death threats he’s been receiving since he spoke up. 

“Police won’t help you. Uganda is not for homosexuals” one X user said. 

“Look at this Gay, run for your life in Uganda because we’re killing the so-called LGBTQ,” another added.

Other victims around the country include Arianna, a transgender woman who was falsely accused in a viral TikTok video of forcing young men to take hormones. She came home after shopping one day to find an angry mob gathered outside her front door. “When they saw me, they started grabbing me and shouting that I needed to die,” she told The Guardian. “The only thing I remember next was waking up in a hospital.”

The new law also targets activists with 20 years of imprisonment for promoting homosexuality, leading to a crackdown on human rights organizations and the criminalization of any LGBTQ+ advocacy. A Ugandan MP, Hon. Cecilia Ogwal, who was one of the 387 members of Uganda Parliament to support the Anti-Homosexuality Act, called LGBTQ+ advocates “A force from the bottom of Hell” and urged Ugandans to “destroy” these LGBTQ+ forces.

Jane, a 24-year-old Ugandan activist, told LGBTQ Nation she is scared for her life and has been in hiding. “I’ve been receiving death threats online lately. One person promised to hunt me down, rape me, and slit my neck “ she said. “The disheartening part about this is that I can’t even report this to the police. The police are even the ones terrorizing us and encouraging this behavior.”

LGBTQ+ activists and campaigners in Africa have made no secret of their stance and how they feel about the new law. A petition was filed in the Constitutional Court to challenge it, but it’s uncertain if there will be a positive outcome. Court hearings began last month, but no ruling has been made yet.

Among the people to file the petition were the only two MPs who voted against the bill, Fox Odoi-Oywelowo and Paul Kwizera Bucyana, as well as prominent rights activists Pepe Onziema and Frank Mugisha. Additional petitions were filed by the Ugandan Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum and a host of international groups.

Activist Jackline Kemigisa wrote in OpenDemocracy that she joined the petition “because the law’s vaguely defined offense of ‘promotion of homosexuality’” endangers her “work and freedom as a journalist and researcher covering queer and feminist movements in Uganda.”

“Should my work, in which I write about minority communities with fairness and dignity, be deemed ‘promotion of homosexuality’ under Section 11 of the new law, I would face up to 20 years in prison,” she said.

Another Ugandan activist, Kira, explained how the new law has changed her life. “Uganda has always been homophobic,” she told LGBTQ Nation, “but since this new bill was signed things have changed. Prior to the new law, getting catcalled was the worst thing that could happen to you in public as people rarely attack you unprovoked. But the new law has emboldened them.”

“They publicly attack us now based on perception, some of them even go as far as stalking and ambushing us in our homes. Being a masculine-presenting woman, I’m scared to go out in public these days because not being traditionally feminine enough could possibly get me killed. We almost lost a friend last month after he was beaten up by a mob in the market for his feminine mannerisms.”

According to Reuters, Uganda’s Constitutional Court began hearing a challenge on December 18th that says the law violates constitutionally protected rights. A panel of five judges told the petitioners they would be notified when a ruling was reached.

“To be honest I don’t have any faith in our judiciary or this entire case having a positive outcome,” John Mukasa, a queer rights activist and medical officer living in Uganda told LGBTQ Nation. “Homosexuality is a very controversial subject in Africa and homophobia has eaten deeply into our society.”

“Our politicians are exploiting this hate for their own benefit in the disguise of protecting African cultures and would continue to do so no matter the cost. Uganda has a myriad of problems from insecurity to multidimensional poverty and hunger, these anti-laws are just being used to distract people from the problems that actually matter.”