It’s an attempt to demonize us,” he says.Ĭonfronting those beliefs is complicated by the fact that many people think consensual, homosexual sex is violent. We are not training anyone in school, not even adults out of school. It’s a campaign against the LGBTI community. Gay sex, like vaginal sex, only leads to injuries if it’s not consensual. Wamala disputes other common beliefs, too: Cancer has nothing to do with sex, he says, and neither he nor any other gay person is recruiting children in schools. “Gay sex, like vaginal sex, only leads to injuries if it’s not consensual,” says Denis Wamala, a gay rights activist.
There’s been serious discussion of a death sentence for gays and lesbians.įor people in this country’s often-secretive LGBT community, perhaps one of the biggest challenges is to overcome the deeply held myths and assumptions about their sexuality. Those antigay lawmakers pushed through legislation that would have punished sexual minorities with life in prison, but that law was struck down in 2014 for technical reasons. Many people here believe that homosexuality was imported by Westerners who lure young people into same-sex relationships, even as some Ugandan lawmakers lean on Western religious leaders for support as they draft laws that aim to rid the country of anything other than heterosexuality. In Uganda, even conspiracy to commit a “homosexual act” can result in jail time. “That is why I have done all I can to help those indulging in it who want to quit, and educate those indulging in it ignorantly to realize the realities and challenges awaiting them,” he says. Male clarifies that he doesn’t hate gay and lesbian people, but says he does hate homosexuality. He says he’s not sure how the young men are able to get copies of the videos, but notes that they often come to him with the same explanation: That the encounters, whether violent or not, were intended to recruit people into homosexuality. When she finally found people who were willing to speak, the interviews were conducted in private. INSIDE THE STORY: Determined to write about LGBT issues in a place where homosexuality is illegal, a GPJ reporter faced embarrassment and hostility. The young men bring videos of the incidents-videos they say were created by the perpetrators to in some cases, prove to “foreign funders” that they’re engaging in homosexuality, Male says. Male says he’s been condemning homosexuality since 2008, when young men first began to report to him that they’d been injured during sexual encounters with other men. Many Ugandans also believe that gays and lesbians are paid by foreigners to forcibly recruit people to become homosexuals. In this country where gays and lesbians are routinely harassed, abused and even tossed in jail, myths about homosexuality abound, including that it can cause cancer and that people are often injured while having gay sex. “I counseled him, and he sought treatment.
“See, this young man had his behind ruptured,” the pastor says, pointing to one video. KAMPALA, UGANDA - Pastor Moses Solomon Male has a laptop containing videos that show what he believes is something terribly sinful: Homosexual acts, including violent ones.