For weeks now, the world has been talking about Uganda’s noteworthy decision to overturn its extreme anti-gay law over a technicality. And although many activists saw the court decision as an achievement for Uganda, many of the nation’s LGBT refugees think the decision has done nothing to curb the violence and oppression they face in their homeland.
According to the Huffington Post, several gay Ugandans have fled to live in Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya, whose lawmakers recently proposed a “stone the gays” bill. Although Uganda’s oppressive anti-gay law, which made sex acts between gay people punishable by up to life in prison, was overturned, many of the Ugandan refugees don’t feel safe in Kenya or Uganda.
“The reaction shocked me. I went there. I thought it would be a celebration, but … nothing,” said Brizan Ogollan, founder of an aid organization that works in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. “They knew at an international level and at the diplomatic level, the decision is going to have impact, but at the local level, it won’t really. You can overrule the law, but you can’t overrule the mind.”
“Unfortunately, the law’s nullification has actually polarized society more,” said Geoffrey Ogwaro, a coordinator for the Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.
And although the refugees have found asylum in another land, they have little sense of peace because, according to Neela Ghoshal, an LGBT rights researcher for Human Rights Watch, Kenyan police could possibly send the refugees back to Uganda at any time.
“There’s no place in Kenya where I really think they can live freely and safely,” Ghoshal said of the gay refugees from Uganda. “They’re basically set up for a lot of bad options in life.”
We hope that Uganda’s anti-gay law is never reinstated, but until these nations deal with the root of their rampant homophobia, all of their LGBT citizens are at risk for unfair oppression and violence. – nicholas robinson
