Last month the Ugandan parliament passed an anti-homosexuality bill that meant anyone who identifies as LGBT could face life in prison. Two young people say they’ve fled the East African country because of the tough new anti-gay laws.
Last month the Ugandan parliament passed an anti-homosexuality bill that meant anyone who identifies as LGBT could face life in prison.
The new bill – which hasn’t been signed into law by the president yet – has been heavily criticised by international human rights groups.
Last month, the BBC got access to secret shelters in Uganda where LGBT people have sought refuge after being kicked out of their homes.
Now Newsbeat has spoken to two young people who’ve fled the East African country for neighbouring Kenya because of the tough new laws.
‘Something evil has been put into society’
Diane* – who’s in her 20s – was outed after people raised suspicions about her girlfriend and went through her phone.
She says her partner was brutally beaten, including by her own father, before they came for her and beat her too.
“The father came with two other men, they started beating us,” she says. “When I came to my senses I realised they had closed the door and went with the keys. They locked us in the house for three days.”
The couple eventually managed to contact a friend from the LGBT community who came to rescue them. “He had to bust the padlock with some cutters,” Diane says. “They found us with a lot of bruises, we couldn’t walk well because we were terribly beaten. We had to leave my place in the night because we couldn’t leave in daytime. They started looking for us, the security personnel, so we had to hide there [at the friend’s house].”
‘Run for my life’
Jeff* is another Ugandan who fled to Kenya after being outed as gay.
He was at a conference when his boss saw him talking to another man who was later arrested for being gay.
Jeff, who’s a doctor practising medicine, was asked to explain his connection to the man.
Much like Diane, he says his employers made him unlock his phone and went through his messages, before he was told he couldn’t stay in his post.
The rumours then reached his landlord who kicked him out because the new bill stops him from being able to rent a property. “After being outed and the rumours started spreading, I couldn’t move during the day,” he says. “If I moved during the day people were looking for me. That very day when I went back home, I failed to sleep in the house.”
Jeff, who’s in his early 30s, says he couldn’t communicate with his family and had to try and survive without work and somewhere to live.
“These people who were looking for me just to carry out mob justice, to beat me, they were just around the clinic where I was working,” he says.
“That’s why I couldn’t move during the day.”
Jeff says he felt he couldn’t trust anyone so had to “take the risk and run for my life”.
Source: BBC