Extreme anti-gay legislation has much of Uganda's LGBTQ community living in fear

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

For the LGBTQ community in Uganda, it's an anxious time. Last month, the parliament there passed what's been described as one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. Today the President sent the bill back to Parliament asking for amendments. Under its current form, it would introduce many new criminal offences that are punishable by imprisonment and even the death penalty. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala.

HALIMA ATHUMANI, BYLINE: For Queen Kalala, being a queer woman in Uganda means hiding - hiding from her family who think she is cursed.

QUEEN KALALA: I have to hide for the sake of my children.

ATHUMANI: Queen Kalala is one of many queer women who is currently housed at the shelter in one of the capital, Kampala's, suburbs. We haven't used her real name, as she fears retribution, but most of all, she worries her two children may be taken away from her permanently. For now, they are with her parents.

QUEEN KALALA: I feel like I have failed my children (crying) 'cause I am supposed to protect them, but I have to give them away because I'm gay.

ATHUMANI: For years, the 29-year-old tried to hide her real identity to live up to Ugandan society's expectations, where being queer is frowned on and same-sex acts are criminalized. She married twice, but hiding who she really was became exhausting.

QUEEN KALALA: When you're gay, you - you're nothing. Like, you are just canceled into a society.

ATHUMANI: And now the gay community here faces a greater threat.

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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

ATHUMANI: To cheers and singing in Parliament last month, Ugandan MPs voted overwhelmingly for the anti-homosexuality bill, which includes life imprisonment and the death penalty for some offenses and encourage people to report on those who identify as gay. But the backlash from the business and international community was so great, it has forced President Yoweri Museveni to send the bill back to Parliament for amendments.

FOX ODOI-OYWELOWO: I have been threatened with stoning.

ATHUMANI: Ugandan MP Fox Odoi-Oywelowo was one of only two legislators who voted against the bill that night. Since then, he has faced severe criticism and personal attacks.

ODOI-OYWELOWO: There were demonstrations organized in my constituency, and they said if I step there, they will undress me to check if I have male genitals.

ATHUMANI: This is the second attempt by the Ugandan Parliament to pass harsher laws criminalizing homosexuality.

ODOI-OYWELOWO: You have an overwhelming, loud and prejudicial mouthpieces from the religious community, from hatemongers. We have, over time, witnessed the rise of Christian fundamentalism.

ATHUMANI: Some of this was evident at a two-day event held last month on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala. Claiming to promote family values, President Museveni was the key speaker.

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PRESIDENT YOWERI MUSEVENI: I hear, I am a homosexual. What are you telling us now? There will be no promotion of homosexuality in Uganda.

ATHUMANI: The two-day event was attended by politicians from home and abroad, including the Russian ambassador and groups such as the U.S. Evangelical Christian organization Family Watch International - all united behind one anti-gay agenda.

QUEEN KALALA: Why is fate taking me back to that time of me pretending to be what I am not?

ATHUMANI: For Queen Kalala and other members of the gay community, their lives are still in an awful limbo.

QUEEN KALALA: If it becomes the law, of course, we have to look for a backup plan.

ATHUMANI: And for now, that backup plan is to keep hiding. For NPR News, I'm Halima Athumani in Kampala, Uganda. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.