{"id":11177,"date":"2018-10-10T14:17:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T08:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=11177"},"modified":"2018-10-10T14:17:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T08:32:09","slug":"minister-condemns-plans-for-ugandas-first-lgbt-centre-as-criminal-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/minister-condemns-plans-for-ugandas-first-lgbt-centre-as-criminal-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister condemns plans for Uganda\u2019s first LGBT centre as \u2018criminal act\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kathmandu (Pahichan) October 10 &#8211; Activists trying to open Uganda\u2019s first centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been told their plans for a safe space are illegal.<\/p>\n<p>Simon Lokodo, minister for ethics and integrity, said opening the community centre would be a criminal act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey will have to take it somewhere else. They can\u2019t open a centre of LGBT activity here. Homosexuality is not allowed and completely unacceptable in\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/uganda\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Uganda<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t and can\u2019t allow it. LGBT activities are already banned and criminalised in this country. So popularising it is only committing a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But fundraising is continuing, according to campaigners crowdfunding to build and open an advice and arts centre in the capital, Kampala, by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQueer people live in fear of being arrested or getting beaten up or killed. There is no safe space. This is why my team want to open Uganda\u2019s first LGBT community centre,\u201d said Petter Wallenberg, director of the group\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/rainbowriots.com\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Rainbow Riots<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-1 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\">\u201cThe centre will be a safe space to welcome queer people, encourage and support them. To achieve this, we are currently raising funds to cover the costs.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe will provide opportunities to learn, relax, socialise and will also give advice on health and safety, which is much needed. It will in essence be a support system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alicia Houston, 22, a campaigner and HIV-positive transgender woman in Kampala, said a space was needed for a \u201cvulnerable community\u201d that is regularly confronted with violence and discrimination. \u201cIt will also be a creative space that will cater for many who don\u2019t have other chances to express themselves elsewhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda under colonial laws. In 2014, an attempt to make some homosexual acts punishable by death was narrowly avoided when it was\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/aug\/01\/uganda-anti-gay-law-null-and-void\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">ruled unconstitutional<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Neela Ghoshal, of Human Rights Watch, said such a centre was crucial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, in what has become a familiar pattern, minister Lokodo is far overstepping his mandate by trying to block the proposed centre, in blatant violation of the right to freedom of association,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Activists believe the arts can help to address transphobia and homophobia in the east African nation. Kowa Tigs, a member of Rainbow Riots, said: \u201cIn Uganda anyone can humiliate you, embarrass you, chase you from his house, school or even home and you know there is nothing you can do about it. There is resentment and hatred towards LGBTI people and they are seen as evil and un-African.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have had team members drop out because they are scared of being exposed. But if we don\u2019t speak out, then who will? Someone has to take a front seat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source : The guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kathmandu (Pahichan) October 10 &#8211; Activists trying to open Uganda\u2019s first centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been told their plans for a safe space are illegal.<br \/>\nSimon Lokodo, minister for ethics and integrity, said opening the community centre would be a criminal act.<br \/>\n\u201cThey will have to take it somewhere else. They can\u2019t open a centre of LGBT activity here. Homosexuality is not allowed and completely unacceptable in\u00a0Uganda,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t and can\u2019t allow it. LGBT activities are already banned and criminalised in this country. So popularising &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,621,490,11],"tags":[447,446,497,445,524,458],"class_list":["post-11177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-news","category-slider","category-world","tag-bisexual","tag-gay","tag-hiv","tag-lesbian","tag-lgbt","tag-transgender"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11179,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11177\/revisions\/11179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}