We cannot stop advocating for Lesbian,Bisexual and queer women rights in Uganda if they are still facing such cruel acts in their lives.These are just some of the human rights violations that we have received and documented over the years.And one thing that stands is these cases go unreported to the law makers due to the fear of being discriminated further.
One of the victims narrating her painful story after the attack.
“ I was attacked and mugged by two men in Kikoni Makerere.I had taken a boda back to my home from a family event but he refused to go further down to my hostel for security reasons.He left me by the roadside and rode off,scared I decided to call my friend Ivan to come pick me up. Unfortunately his phone was unavailable.It was in the process of trying to call him again that I was caught off guard by a man who strangled me from the back and told my other attacker to hit me from the front.I did not fully understand what they were saying as i was held in chokehold,quickly running out of breath and losing conscience.They kept murmuring in Luganda,a language i do not understand well but i once had one of them call me “gay”.At this point i pretended to have passed out and the man who was holding me in a chokehold threw me to the ground.My attackers then hit me a couple of more times while saying words i could not fully understand,searching my bag and taking whatever belongings i had on me.After i had established that they had left i slowly made my way back to my residence where i passed out till another friend of mine found me in the morning.”
“I have been receiving threats in my neighborhood for a while.A month ago I came home to find my house broken in and most of my property had been robbed.There was writings on my door using charcoal threatening me saying I was next .Tramautised by the entire experience, i moved to a friend’s home for a while until I got back on my feet.On sarturday that same week i was attacked and cut with knives at the gate to my house as I was on my back to pick the few things that had been left in the house after robbery.The men that attacked kept hurling insults at me while cutting me claiming that they had warned me to leave the neighborhood because it not an area for lesbians but I refused to leave.They also threatened to kill me and had I not raised an alarm that alerted the neighbors that came to my rescue ,they would have probably ended my life.”
We still strive to continue carrying out dialogues with Ugandan law enforcers to create awareness on the rights of Lesbian,Bisexual and queer women.Human rights are universal.Every human being should be protected irrespective of their sexual orientation,gender and identity.
