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No 1065 6 August 2015
18
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of 18 years and over
Uganda Pride
This weekend Uganda’s out and proud will march through Entebbe to
celebrate Pride for the fourth year running. Chris Godfrey caught up with the
country’s most prominent LGBT activist, Dr Frank Mugisha, to find out how the
event has grown and what issues the LGBT community still face.
Dr Frank Mugisha
How has the event grown over the last three
years?
The first parade we had between 100 and 150,
the second one we had over 200 and the third a
lot more than 200. This one we might have a lot
more, definitely more than 300. It’s growing! The
first parade was mostly organised by a few of us,
including myself and my colleague Kasha. Now
they have a whole new Pride committee and a
coordinator. They’re much more organised, they
even have co-ordinators and volunteers. We never
had volunteers!
At the second one we had people come late,
because they wanted to see what was going to
happen to us. By the evening the number had
doubled compared to morning. Because that means
people were calling and asking “is everything ok?”
But there were no demonstrations; we just had
people ask “what’s going on, why are there gay
people all over the place.”
But people are still worried to get involved in the
parade. The fear in Uganda is not just about security
but also being exposed in the media. They fear what
society will do to them after that.
So has the situation improved much in
Uganda?
I would say on the political scene there is some
improvement. But actually I think ever since the
anti-homosexuality law was nullified there’s been
an increase in harassment of LBGT persons by
the public, not the state or law enforcement. In
terms of evictions, daily verbal insults and physical
attacks - those have increased. But in terms of police
harassment under the state, that has really reduced.
Four years of
So this weekend you’ll be attending Uganda’s
fourth Pride parade; do the authorities
actually know you’ve got a Pride event
planned?
The first parade we told them it was a party and then
the police raided it. We were detained and a few of my
colleagues were put in cells. It lasted about two hours
at the police station and then everyone was let go.
The next one we had permission from the police
to carry it out, however much they insisted we
shouldn’t! They didn’t refuse and they didn’t give
us permission, they just asked us why we had to do
these what they called “exhibitions”. They didn’t say
no and they didn’t say yes. So I told my colleagues it
was a yes and we went ahead!
And then, last year, they accepted and told us we
could carry it out. We have The Public Management
Act in Uganda, a law that requires any gathering
of more than five people which could be perceived
as political to inform the police of where it will take
place prior to it taking place. So we did that and
they said it was ok.
They didn’t provide protection, but the police in
that area were called to arrest us by locals. But they
just said “no they have informed us”. So this year we
will definitely engage the police and whether it’s a no
or yes we’ll still go ahead with it.
And what about your costume this year?
Last year I was a pirate, this year I won’t be. The
year before I was dressed as a sailor. But we have
no theme; everyone wears what they want as long as
they’re happy and comfortable
“The fear in Uganda
is not just about
security but also being
exposed in the media.”
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“ What we’re seeing now is the
general public harassing the
LGBT community.”
And what are the biggest dangers people face at the
moment?
From the general public. What we’re seeing now is the general
public harassing the LGBT community, we’re seeing a lot of
evictions from landlords, we’re seeing a lot of people thrown
out of their homes, we’re also seeing an increase in verbal
and physical attacks on LGBT persons or even those who are
perceived to be LGBT.
Some people when they get thrown out they move in with
friends. Or some people can afford to move to other places. Then
some people have to come to us, Sexual Minorities of Uganda
(SMUG), as we have a programme which resettles people if they
come out of their home.
How are people ‘perceived’ to be gay?
There’s a lot of rumour mongering about two people of the same
sex living together because initially, before the law was introduced,
it was common for two young men to share a house, but now it’s
not so common. If it happened people would be questioning that
and if there was a rumour that one of them was gay then they’d
break into their house or the law enforcers would come in and
question them, or even detain them.
So now people are very cautious about that [same-sex shared
accommodation]. Especially people in the closet. Because initially
a young gay man would finish school, rent a house, live with a
boyfriend and say this is my cousin, my relative, my friend and
we’re sharing a house because of the economy in Uganda. But
now it’s not very common. If it happens then people will question.
Some people even tell the police “we think these people are gay,
because we’ve never seen any women come in here.”
So are there no private spaces at all for LGBT people
anymore in Uganda?
There isn’t much privacy for LGBT persons, even before the whole
issue of the law. We had gay friendly bars, but now we have
only one, which is really very private. But before then we had
very many. People were creating their own spaces, in their own
neighbourhoods. But now it’s different, because the ordinary
Ugandans can easily identify anything related to homosexuality,
with any group of people they see if they suspect them to be.
It’s not as vibrant as it was before the introduction of the
anti-gay law. We had about three gay bars and then we had
other friendly places. But now we don’t have those anymore.
Some of them had been threatened by the authorities
and then some have lost business because gay people
themselves are not going there for fear of being exposed. If
they’re there then they’re not as visible as the past. We still
have one that is frequented on Sunday mostly, but you
would still need to know someone to know this bar.
With President Museveni running for office again
in 2016, do you expect the situation to get better or
worse for LBGT people as the election unfolds?
The churches are of course are strategising. They’re
strategising hard and don’t be surprised to see anything
new and antigay coming out. The issue of homosexuality in
Uganda has so much popular interest that it might not stop
the president using it as a last resort to win the election.
Especially if someone comes to him with a very good idea,
like they did with signing the [anti-homosexuality] law.
So we’re just at the edge. We don’t know what to expect.
When we had the law we know we had something to fight.
Now we’re just waiting.
Images of Uganda Pride are supplied by Denver David
Robinson and were taken at the 2013 parade.
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COMING OUT/CASHING IN
When is an artist advocating for the gay community and when are they simply capitalising on it?
Former Disney virgin and current cock-tease Nick Jonas came to visit London last month, after generating
a firestorm of opinion about his motives for pursuing his gay male fanbase. The cynical among us believe
his PR team are purely preying on us, profting from our apparent innate thirst for the unattainable,
straight, cute boy next door. Others argue that he’s only treading the same path well-worn as female
entertainers like Madonna and Lady Gaga, who are often considered ‘gay icons’.
So what’s the tea? QX spoke to four pop fanatics about their opinions on Nick Jonas, ladies in pop and
the pursuit of the pink pound. Needless to say, they all had VERY strong opinions.
Jacqui Potato
Carbohydrate
It’s a generalisation but gay men love a strong
woman behaving with courage. Actresses like
Cate Blanchett , Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Tilda
Swinton etc. They love sexy and/or powerful pop
women too, Beyonce, Björk, Rihanna, Madonna. We
are continually fascinated by examples of enigmatic
women. I think its something to do with mothers and
super heroes, but I’m not sure what...
Nick Jonas is just a young, attractive, confident
man with a PR machine behind him. They are
putting him in places that gay guys can see him
and get into him. Perhaps those powerful females
do it in a different way. Beyonce’s mega sass and
campiness in the ‘Single Ladies’ video
really opened my eyes and I
thought, “Wow, you’re funny
too”. So that was a good
move in terms of getting
the gays on board.
With this guy, he is
being flirty and it’s a
tease for the gays out
there. It’s a PR thing
isn’t it? It doesn’t ruffle
my feathers because
I’m not paying much
attention. Is there cause
to get irate if we find out
he’s definitely straight?
Will he have been culturally
appropriating gayness? Has he
actually sucked off a cucumber live on
stage? Have I missed something? I would never buy
his music off the back of a concept that he is being
a bit gay, therefore might
be
gay, therefore I should
like him and/or support him. But then, I’m 36.
I think, in America, as a pop star you want to
reach out and cover as many bases as possible, get
a number of audiences. Taylor Swift was a country
singer and now she’s a pop star, she’s got all of
white America covered (gays, girls and a few grown
ups). I feel like J-Lo probably had a good spread of
the Latin community, some of the black community,
some white fans and some gays. Do you remember
when they tried to ‘sex-up’ and make Nelly Furtado
a bit cooler ? Hooking her up with Timbaland and
Timberlake.
Nick Jonas has got the girls and his team want
to get the gays too ... He won’t get the straight black
guys though, or will he? Watch out for some very
‘urban’ spornosexual videos in the future…
Rob Holley
DJ/ Promoter, Push the Button
Eurovision Correspondent, Gay Times
I first became aware of the talented Nick Jonas some years ago
through the Tumblr nicksbiceps.tumblr.com - and now, thanks to QX
Magazine alerting me to the fact, I am THRILLED to discover that Nick
also has a reasonably successful career as a pop star.
This weekend I made it my top priority to fire up iTunes and
listen to all of his HITS back to back - but 25 minutes in I kind of
got distracted by http://nicksass.tumblr.com and lost all interest in
the music.
Joking (semi-joking) aside, it’s clear that Nick Jonas is going for
the pink pound like a tramp on chips - from promotional tours of
gay bars to stepping in to save Prides. And why not? It’s nothing
new. Everyone in pop from Take That to Girls Aloud has built a
strong gay fan base, because as gays we’ve
got the capacity to indulge ourselves
in pop like nobody’s business.
The ability to be up front
about loving Pop (capital
“P”) on a very base level is
something that simply gets
robbed from people as
they age and begin the
process of accomplishing a
heteronormative lifestyle. If
you can’t be free enjoy lip-
syncing to Britney’s ‘Toxic’
as you enter a mirror-filled
lift at the age of 33, then what
can you find joy in? Spotify
playlists exclusively featuring the
likes of Keane and Elbow? Urgh! No!
We want to be able to mix it up a bit, so I
welcome the stars who are unafraid of appealing to a ridiculously
wide spectrum of fans.
I’m making sweeping generalisations here, of course, and it’s
possible to like all sorts of music (I grew up listening almost exclusively
to an entirely normal mix of Radiohead, Daphne & Celeste, Aphex
Twin and Steps), so it’s hardly surprising that when a combination of a
star’s image, lyrics, music and personality clicks with fans, the fans get
behind them.
Marvin Humes from JLS was always upfront about their gay
audience: “it’s a market like another other market - you appeal to as
vast majority as possible”, and it just so happens that gay men have a
lot more spending power than teenage girls, and are a lot freer than
straight men to indulge in the joyful sexy pop nonsense of boy bands,
Nick Jonas and the like.
The interesting part is when a singer’s star is no longer in the
ascendancy - when they are no longer untouchable - and whether the
gay fans can call upon their hero’s support in the same way the gay
community supported them in their career.
*cough* Donna Summer *cough*
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