A PEOPLE CONDEMNED

The Human Rights Status of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Persons In East Africa 2009-2010

Authored by: Andiah Kisia and Milka Wahu Edited by: Wanja Muguongo and Happy Kinyili Illustrations by: Michael Soi

Publisher - UHAI - the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative c/o Akiba Uhaki Foundation Rosami Court, Suite 5, Muringa Road P.O. Box 27611-00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 (020) 233 0050 / 812 7535 Tel: +254 (737) 920 920 / (702) 931 911 Email: info@uhai-eashri.org Website: www.uhai-eashri.org Report by - Andiah Kisia and Milka Wahu Cover design - Samuel Gachie Email: gachie@live.com Produced by - Jacaranda Designs Ltd PO Box 120200606, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 (0)20 374-6270 or wireless 020-260-4433 Email: info@jacaranda-africa.com Art Director - Katherine Moir Graphic Designer - Samuel Gachie Illustrator - Michael Soi Printed in Nairobi, Kenya ISBN 9966-956-78-4 Copyright UHAI the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative, 2010. This booklet is published by UHAI. All rights reserved. While every attempt has been made to verify all facts, instructions and procedures, the publisher claims indemnity against results of any nature whatsoever arising from the application/s thereof.

Contents
GLOSSARy .......................................................................................................................................... 2 METHODOLOGy------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 Introduction To LGBTI Life In East Africa ------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 LEGAL AND POLICy FRAMEWORK RELEVANT TO LGBTI PERSONS IN EAST AFRICA ----------19 National Laws ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------19 Criminalising Homosexuality in East Africa? -------------------------------------------------------------------------21 International Instruments ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND ABUSES BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN EAST AFRICA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24 Protector Turned Violator: State Sponsored Homophobia--------------------------------------------------------24 That One Will Spoil your Children: Societal Homophobia ------------------------------------------------------28 The Unwanted Tenant: Denial of the Right to Housing ------------------------------------------------------------30 Condemned at School -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32 Violated at Work ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 34 Denial of Registration of LGBTI Organisations ----------------------------------------------------------------------35 TRANSGENDER, TRANSSEXUAL AND INTERSEX PERSONS: THE UNTOLD STORy ................36 Denied Identity and Dignity: Being a Transgender Person in East Africa ------------------------------------36 Wishing the Problem Away: The Case of Intersex Persons -----------------------------------------------------40 ACCESS TO JUSTICE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------42 A BLEAK REALITy: THE CHALLENGES OF ACCESSING HEALTH RIGHTS FOR LGBTI PERSONS IN EAST AFRICA-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------44 Intersections of Access to Health and HIV/AIDS --------------------------------------------------------------------46 NAMING AND SHAMING: THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN SHAPING PUBLIC DISCOURSE ---------48 ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK? ---------------------------------------------------------------------52 Conclusion and Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------52 Education and Sensitisation: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------52 Legal Initiatives: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54 Capacity Building and Networking: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------54

Glossary
Sexual orientation: A persons romantic and sexual attractions to individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender. Gender identity: A persons conception of oneself as male or female or both or neither. Gender identity may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. Transgender person: Someone whose sense of gender is different from their biological sex assigned at birth. Female to Male Transsexual: A person who has undergone sexual reassignment surgery to transition from a biological female to a biological male. Male to Female Transsexual: A person who has undergone sexual reassignment surgery to transition from a biological male to a biological female. Heterosexual: A person attracted primarily to people of the opposite sex. Homosexual: A person attracted primarily to people of the same sex. Lesbian: A woman attracted primarily to other women. Bisexual: A person attracted to people of both sexes. Gay: Generally used to describe men who are attracted primarily to other men. Sometimes used as a synonym for homosexual. MSM: Men who engage in sexual behavior with other men, but who do not necessarily identify as "gay," "homosexual" or "bisexual." WSW: Women who engage in sexual behavior with other women, but who do not necessarily identify as gay, homosexual, lesbian or bisexual. Intersex: A condition in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesnt seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male or a person born with genitals that seem to be in between male and female.
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 LGBTI: Used to designate the wider sexual and gender minority community namely lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex. Outing: The act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) persons true sexual orientation or gender identity without that persons consent. Queer: An umbrella term for sexual orientations and gender identities that are not heterosexual or which do not conform to the male/female gender binary. Sexual Minority: A group whose sexual identity, orientation or practise differs from the majority of the surrounding society.

MethodoloGy
The research contained in this report was conducted during the months of September to December 2010. Two consultants visited five East African states: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and interviewed 67 respondents drawn from different groups of the LGBTI community, human rights activists and government agencies. The interviewers recorded the interview proceedings with respondents verbatim and with the aid of questionnaires and electronic recorders. This project has made use of existing research and literature on the subject as well as official documents including national and international legal and policy documents and sources. Information obtained was as far as it was possible verified from official sources and other published works. The interviewees in this report represent a small fraction of the overall number of the LGBTI persons and human rights activists in all the countries involved. Research was done mainly in the capital cities of the five countries with the exception of Rwanda and Kenya in which a few smaller towns in the countryside were also visited. This report does therefore have a more urban bias and does not delve much into the situation of LGBTI individuals in rural areas. The names of some of the interviewees have been changed in order to protect their privacy. Where real names have been changed, this change is indicated by an asterisk thus*.

IntrodUCtIon
Introduction to lGBtI life In east africa
Inciting people to hang homosexuals is an attack on the right to dignity of those thus threatened: the call to hang gays in dozens tends to tremendously threaten their right to human dignity.1 On January 26th 2010, three weeks after the above judgement was made, David Kato, one of the complainants in the case and one of the people mentioned in the Rolling Stone tabloid as one of 100 homosexuals in Uganda, was assaulted and killed in his home in Mukono District, 27 kilometres outside Kampala. Until very recently, the lives of LGBTI people in East Africa have been characterised by silence and invisibility. So little was known about the lives of sexual minorities in the region that it was easy for the larger society to imagine that they did not exist at all. So it was that in 1999, during an acceptance speech at a ceremony recognising the Uganda governments efforts to combat HIV, President Yoweri Museveni could say that male to male transmission of HIV in Uganda was not a problem because we do not have homosexuals in Uganda. Within a week of President Musevenis comments, Kenyas then President Daniel arap Moi weighed in on the issue, describing homosexuality as unchristian and unAfrican and vowing not to shy away from warning Kenyans against the dangers of the scourge. For years, public discourse on sexual minorities has been largely confined to vague references to the problem of homosexuality in schools and prisons. This, coupled with a lack of representation in any media of individuals self-identifying as gay, lesbian or transgender means that the dialogue has been driven by long held and unquestioned assumptions of the newness and unAfricanness of homosexuality and other sexual and gender minority identifications and practices. Only within the last decade have sexual and gender minorities in Africa as a whole and East Africa in particular began to speak up against the misplaced notions of who and what they are and by so doing, to stimulate debate within their societies, not always informed or productive, but always spirited, about the nature and rights of same-sex practising citizens. Unsurprisingly, the increased visibility of LGBTI individuals and groups has resulted in a strong backlash by a conservative society.
1. Justice V.F Kibuuka Musoke in Kasha Jacqueline, Pepe Onziema and David Kato vs. Giles Muhame and the Rolling Stone Publications Ltd. Delivered on 3rd January 2011.

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For example, the year 2009 saw Ugandas infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill2 (often referred to as the Bahati Bill) introduced in Parliament. This bill sought to criminalise homosexuality in Uganda for the first time and included provisions for life imprisonment and even death for the promotion of homosexuality and for aggravated homosexuality.3 In Burundi in the same year, the Penal Code was amended to criminalise homosexuality for the first time even as a revised Penal Code containing an article which would criminalise engaging in and inciting homosexual acts was tabled before the Rwandan Parliament. In the Rwandan case however, the article 217 was removed from the draft Penal Code after intense lobbying by the civil society. Afterwards, Mr. Tharcisse Karugarama the Rwandan Minister for Justice, in a rare show of support by a state official was quoted as saying: The government I serve and speak for on certain issues cannot and will not in any way criminalise homosexuality; sexual orientation is a private matter and each individual has his or her own orientation that is not a State matter at all. Religious and cultural beliefs have only served to intensify the problems faced by LGBTI persons in East Africa. Cultural interdictions against homosexuality intersect with legal and religious prohibitions to create an environment of mutually reinforcing bias. However, the irony of condemning homosexuality as unAfrican on the basis of unAfrican religions seems to have eluded many religious leaders. The combination of misinformation and invisibility surrounding the LGBTI community has made it possible for many of the myths and stereotypes surrounding homosexuality in Africa to persist. These include the idea of homosexuals as paedophiles and child molesters, a perception which greatly inflames public sentiment against sexual minorities as Brenda* a Ugandan lesbian found out: I had just got home from work and was walking to my house when a neighbours daughter came to meet me. A group of men drinking in a bar by the bus stop started to jeer and shout at me, telling me to leave the girl alone. That one is going to spoil that child, they yelled. Where is that girls mother? Tell her to come and get her daughter before its too late. I didnt know where to look. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me.4
2. The Bahati Bill is the name given to a private members bill submitted by MP David Bahati in Uganda in October 2009. The bill sought to broaden the criminalisation of samesex practice to include sexual orientation and by introducing life imprisonment and the death penalty for repeat offenders, for homosexual conduct by people who are HIV positive and for engaging in same-sex acts with people under 18 years of age. The bill also includes provisions for Ugandans who engage in same-sex sexual relations outside of Uganda making them liable for extradition to Uganda and for individuals or entities supporting LGBTI rights. 3. A person commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality when among other things: the person against whom the offence is committed is below the age of 18, the offender is HIV positive, the offender is a serial offender and the offender is a person of authority over the person against whom the offence is committed. 4. Interview with Brenda*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010.

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One of the most widespread misconceptions is the idea of homosexuality as an alien practice imported into Africa by depraved Westerners. This notion underpins the easy opposition of African morality to Western immorality, of African temperance and Western permissiveness. Thus the constant refrain of those opposed to sexual minority rights is that homosexuality is unAfrican and that homosexuality threatens to erode and pollute a pristine and highly moral African society. This is problematic in a number of ways, not least the totalising idea of a single, immutable African culture which does not and never has existed. The idea of homosexuality as a Western imposition also conveniently ignores evidence of widespread same-sex practice in pre-colonial African societies.5 While the historicity of same-sex practice in Africa is a continuing debate beyond the scope of this report, there can be no doubt about the current existence of sexual minorities in Africa today. There is varied evidence of this existence which gives emphatic lie to the proclamations of the non-existence of LGBTI people on the continent. The simplest and clearest evidence are the numerous self-proclaimed LGBTI individuals who have recently come out in all of the East African countries. In particular, there is evidence of significant and varied LGBTI communities in each of the five East African countries we visited, all indigenous Africans, and most of whom have never left the continent. There were LGBTI individuals in both small and large towns, young and old, male and female, and running the gamut from peasants and labourers to white collar professionals and university students, from cosmopolitan, well-travelled men of the world, to women and men in small towns who had not travelled far out of their one-street centres in the countryside. There were free-wheeling, club loving young men who were out and proud and unapologetically gay as well as married men with wives and children who slept with men quietly and discreetly outside their marriages. Our research revealed an LGBTI population which included the entire spectrum of sexual minority practice and gender identity including MSM, WSW, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals. One extremely widespread social practice in East Africa is the large numbers of men in heterosexual marriages who have sex with men and who, often as a result of prevailing cultural norms, do not identify as gay or bisexual. While the phenomenon of married MSM is widespread in East Africa, its institutionalisation is most evident in coastal societies and captured in a local saying that kila shoga ana basha wake or for every bottom there is a top. On the East African coast, among the Swahili and allied communities, the penetrative partner in same-sex male relationships is called a basha while the shoga is the receptive partner. The penetrative partner is to all intents and purposes considered
5. See for example Boy Wives and Female Husbands by Will Roscoe and Stephen Murray eds, 1998. and The Construction of Homosexuality by David Greenberg, 1988.

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heterosexual. This is especially true if he is also married. In this view, it is only the act of being penetrated by another man which renders a man homosexual. An informant we spoke to in Tanzania denied that he was gay, even while admitting that he slept primarily with men. When we asked if his preference for homosexual sex did not make him gay, he was quick to point out that not only was he was a married, but that he was also a top. In his view, the fact that he was always the penetrative partner during sex obviated the possibility of his being gay. In general, MSM and gay men are more visible in all five countries than are lesbians. Transgender and intersex people are less visible still. This is very likely due to the fact that they are viewed with even more hostility than gay men and lesbians and also due to the lack of resources available to them. In general, there are relatively few initiatives addressing these two communities and with the exception of Uganda, no dedicated groups working on intersex issues in the region. There is generally a feeling of marginalisation of transgender and intersex individuals and issues within the mainstream LGBTI movement. Because homosexuality is seen as a Western phenomenon, and since Westerners of various stripes are seen as having money, many opponents dismiss African sexual minorities as self-seeking opportunists who claim to be gay only because there is money to be made from doing so or perhaps a visa to some European metropolis. In addition, there is the pervasive belief that well-heeled gay rights organisations in Europe and America are using their financial power to spread the practice in Africa by funding sexual minority groups and generally spearheading the push for LGBTI rights. For instance, David Bahati while being interviewed on a U.S television show referred to 15 million dollars which had been sent to Uganda by the United States to recruit children into homosexuality. And one woman attending a vigil at murdered gay rights activist David Katos home was heard to say of his previous generosity to her: If I had known what he was involved in and where he got his money from, I would never have taken it. I wish I could return it all.6 The perception that LGBTI rights groups and individuals are flush with Western money has resulted in numerous cases of blackmail and extortion from the public and the police. A particularly egregious example of this occurred in Uganda during which police in Kampala detained two gay men without charge for a period of three weeks and through torture, managed to extract the names and contacts of other gay men in order to extort money from them, because in their opinion, homosexuals have a lot of money.7
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6. The Daily Monitor, February 2011. 7. Interview with Frank Mugisha, Kampala, Uganda, 14/9/2010.

Also in Uganda, a gay man described the change in attitude of his neighbours after he was outed in the press After I was exposed in the media as a gay rights activist, people in my neighbourhood turned against us. Not just me, but even my mother. Whenever she went to buy things from the local market, traders would increase the prices because they assumed that as my mother, she had a lot of money.8 In Kenya, the leader of a neighbourhood militia in Mtwapa remarked almost mournfully: Hichi chama cha washoga kimeshinda hata nyinyi wanawake sababu ni ulimwengu mzima halafu ni tajiri.9 (This society of homosexuals is even more powerful than the womens movement because it has spread all around the world and is rich to boot.) While all same-sex orientation and behaviour is frowned upon, the simplistic view that reduces homosexuality to a sexual act, particularly a sexual act between men, has resulted in most of the negative attention being focused on the practice of anal intercourse. God made man and woman and saw it was good, said a preacher we met in Mtwapa, but man in his sinfulness has contravened Gods law and seen fit to engage in anal sex, he continued, almost apoplectic with loathing, and the experts tell us that anal sex is extremely destructive.10 In defence of the Bahati Bill, Mr. James Nsaba Buturo, the Ugandan Minister for Ethics and Integrity castigated disapproving donor countries thus: We should remind them (the donors) that there is integrity to be defended and threats are not the way to go. If one chooses to withdraw their aid, they are free to do so because Ugandans dont want to engage in anal sex. Ugandas pastor Martin Ssempa in a now infamous video spent an inordinate amount of time describing in graphic detail what he considers to be normal sexual activity between homosexual men. The good pastor subjected several church congregations to viewings of extreme pornographic material as proof that what gay people do behind closed doors was so revolting that it should be criminalised, privacy laws notwithstanding. The equation of homosexuality with behaviour, with practise and with particular sexual acts is responsible for the idea that homosexuality is spreading in Africa, that homosexuals recruit children and therefore that homosexuality can be fought and stopped.
8. Interview with Peter*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 9. Interview with Farid Abud, Mtwapa, Kenya, September 2010. 10. Interview with Bishop Lawrence Chai, Mtwapa, Kenya, September 2010.

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Under the incendiary headline Hang them: They are after our kids!, an article in the Uganda tabloid Rolling Stone alleged that the gay community in Uganda has been so ravaged by HIV and AIDS that they have embarked on a massive drive to recruit 100,000 children to make up the numbers.11 This story was accompanied by the outing of 100 prominent homos in Uganda. The alleged homosexuals thus exposed were immediately subjected to increased levels of physical and verbal harassment including beatings and eviction. The unrepentant editor of the newspaper Giles Muhame defended his actions on the basis that he was only trying to protect vulnerable Ugandan youth against the depredations of the homosexual agenda. Some of the most draconian elements of the Bahati bill were intended to address this spread and the promotion of the practice. The social landscape for sexual minorities in East Africa is complicated by the role of religion. Religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim have been among the most vocal opponents of acceptance and inclusion of sexual and gender minorities in Africa. In Uganda, the association of the American Christian Right with sections of African religious leaders has resulted in a particularly virulent homophobia including the tabling of the Bahati Bill.12 The tabling of the bill has found vocal approval in some religious quarters with Pastor Martin Ssempa, founder of the Makerere Community Church endorsing it, the Bishop of Karamoja Diocese urging Parliament to pass the bill and the Archbishop of Uganda maintaining a deafening silence on the matter. Also in Uganda, a group of more moderate religious leaders urged that gays should be jailed rather than hanged because if they were killed, the message of repentance and change would not find an audience. As Canon Aaron Mwesigye, provincial secretary of the Church of Uganda said: If you kill the people, to whom will the message go? We need to have imprisonment for life if the person is still alive. In Kenya in 2010, the mainstream Christian church and Muslim leaders led the country in opposing the draft of a new constitution, stating among other objections, that the greatly expanded Bill of Rights was so broad and limited discrimination on so many grounds that it virtually legalised homosexuality.
11. Rolling Stone, October 2010. 12. In March 2009, a two-day conference organised by a group of American evangelicals was held in Uganda with The Gay Agenda as its theme. In the course of the conference, participants including police and national politicians discussed the threat posed to religious values and to the Ugandan family by homosexuals. The Bahati Bill was introduced a month later. Moreover, Scott Lively, President of the Abiding Truth Ministries, a conservative Christian organisation and one of the organisers of the conference has characterised the Bahati Bill as an attempt to resist the homosexualisation of Uganda by Europeans and Americans and has called it the lesser of two evils. See also http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html?_r=1

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But perhaps the most insidious intervention of religious groups happened at Mtwapa on the Kenyan coast in February of 2010 when the religious leaders and their followers presided over a day-long hunt for gay men in the Mtwapa area including several searches of private residences and summary arrests in an attempt to forestall a rumoured gay wedding. An unsuspecting employee of a government research facility was set upon, doused in petrol and almost set alight before the police intervened to arrest the suspects, thus saving him from almost certain death. At the police station where the mob had converged, Sheikh Ali Hussein kept the tempers high preaching against Sodom and Gomorrah and the need to cleanse Mtwapa of homosexuals. One of those religious leaders, Bishop Lawrence Chai a fascinating combination of generous, engaging humanity and implacable dislike, described the events at Mtwapa with breathless vehemence. The fact that his actions had almost cost the lives of five human beings didnt give him much by way of pause. He saw it as his duty to protect society against the creeping affliction of homosexuality: Itadhuru vijana wetu. Watakuwa wameambukizwa na ugonjwa mbaya, na zinaa mbaya, ambayo Mwenyezi Mungu amekataa tangu kuumbwa kwa ulimwengu. Kusema kweli, kuna dhambi nyingi, lakini ushoga ni dhambi kubwa sana.13 (It will harm our youth. They will have been infected by a sickness which God has prohibited from the beginning of time. It is true that there are many sins, but homosexuality is the greatest of them all.) There are of course exceptions to the rule of religious bigotry and the Other Sheep ministry in Kenya as well as the case of Ugandas Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo are examples of this. Other Sheep is based on John Chapter 10:16 which talks about others who have been excluded from the body of the church and whom God wants to include. Reverend Kimindu, coordinator of Other Sheep East Africa, says that his ministry is an attempt to reach those people whom the church is not reaching, people who are marginalised even within the church, those the bible calls the other sheep, including but not limited to LGBTI individuals. But the message of tolerance from these religious leaders has not been welcomed by the church hierarchy. Reverend Kimindus opinions around homosexuality were particularly problematic in the aftermath of the debate surrounding the 1998 Lambeth conference.14 His ministry to the LGBTI community resulted in his effective exclusion from the mainline Anglican Church in Kenya. In Uganda, a campaign of tolerance and acceptance for sexual minorities by Bishop Ssenyonjo resulted in his defrocking by the Anglican Church.
13. Interview with Bishop Lawrence Chai, Mtwapa, Kenya, September 2010. 14. The Lambeth Conference is a meeting of the worldwide Anglican Church held every ten years. In 1998, the Anglican Church was polarised around the issue of the ordination of gay priests.

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In each East African country, there were at least a handful of LGBTI groups in existence. These groups have been formed for reasons ranging from the purely social to legal advocacy. The relatively open organisation of LGBTI individuals into groups in East Africa is universally a recent phenomenon. While it is possible that some level of organisation existed in the past, this research did not find any distant precursor groups to be still in existence. Few of the existing groups are more than ten years old and most are only two or three years old. The timing of this trend certainly owes something to political liberalisation of the end of the post-Cold War world and the growth of the womens movement and associated debates on the subject of gender and sexuality as well as the emergence of human rights discourse around the world. Although formed around the same period, there is a great variation in terms of size and capacity from country to country with Uganda and Kenya having numerous and more established groups and Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania having fewer and less established organisations. Significant challenges exist for these groups given the high levels of stigma and the criminalisation of homosexuality. Most significant of all these is the issue of the legal status of the organisations. Many remain unregistered and therefore lack status under the law. The lack of legal status impacts among other things the organisations ability to receive funding and therefore to plan and execute their various plans and programmes. These groups are generally based in cities and large towns, meaning that a significant proportion of LGBTI individuals in the countryside still live in closeted isolation, removed from community and resources enjoyed by their counterparts in urban areas. However, efforts are being made by several of the groups to reach out to LGBTI people in smaller towns across the region and in some cases, LGBTI individuals in the countryside have initiated their own groups and programmes to address their needs. Overall, the situation for sexual minorities in East Africa is a difficult one. In each country in the East Africa region, no matter how diverse their religion, culture or traditional beliefs, a common denominator of prejudice against LGBTI people was evident. Stigma and discrimination is experienced by the LGBTI community in all spheres of life driving and keeping many of them deep in the closet. Professionals in particular, in fear of blackmail and the loss of professional standing and status are particularly unwilling to come out. In Kenya, George, a flight attendant with a leading airline described his life as living a lie:
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I am one of the few examples of responsible youth where I come from, most of the others having taken to drugs and alcohol or dropped out of school. I went to school, I have a job, I dont drink. Many parents point to me as a role model for their children, but I know its a lie because they would be horrified if they really knew about me. I would love to be more active in the LGBTI community but Im trapped in this lie.15 Four of the five East African states maintain laws that criminalise consensual sex between adults of the same sex. The offence commonly referred to as carnal knowledge against the order of nature attracts lengthy prison terms. In this, Tanzanias laws are the most draconian, providing for custodial sentences ranging from thirty years to life imprisonment. Although same-sex practice is not criminalised in Rwanda, the legal system continues to be used to police and control sexual behaviour and gender identity. Arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment by security forces, black mail and extortion, sexual abuse by the police, denial of the right to association, expulsion from schools and discrimination in employment and housing are some of the violations LGBTI persons continue to suffer in their daily lives. Despite the extent of violations against LGBTI individuals, these abuses are rarely reported due to the likelihood of stigmatisation and harassment by law enforcement agents. As a result, human rights violations against the LGBTI community remain under-reported and undocumented. Confronted by a hostile government on one hand and surrounded by an unwelcoming society on the other, the LGBTI community continues to live and work in difficult and often dangerous circumstances. However, significant progress has and continues to be made against great odds. There is no longer a resounding silence on the subject of sexual minorities. At great cost to themselves, many individuals have come out and continue to work openly to promote the cause of equality for all citizens in East Africa. It is imperative that these initiatives and efforts be supported and encouraged.

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15. Interview with George*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010.

leGal and PolICy FraMeWorK releVant to lGBtI Persons In east aFrICa

All human beings are born free, and are all equal. Every person is entitled to recognition and respect for his dignity.16

national laws
The Constitutions and laws of all five East African states prohibit human rights abuses and certain forms of discrimination in addition to guaranteeing fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, the right to health and other socio-economic rights. Further, the equality provisions of all five Constitutions prohibit the making of discriminatory national laws. In practice, however, mechanisms for enforcing human rights protections for LGBTI persons in East Africa remain weak due to the perceived criminalisation of homosexuality as well as pervasive social stigma.17 For example, while the Ugandan Constitution strengthened its equality provisions by establishing an Equal Opportunities Commission in 2007 to press for the rights of traditionally marginalised groups, the jurisdiction of the commission has been defined to exclude sexual and other minorities.18 As a result, the constitutionality of the Equal Opportunities Act (Section 15 d) has been challenged in court in Adrian Jjuuko vs. The Attorney General of Uganda. As regards health, the right to health is enshrined in articles 43 and 41 of the Constitutions of Kenya and Rwanda respectively. While the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control laws of Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania are silent on the subject of LGBTIs,19 they do provide for non-discrimination, privacy and confidentiality in treatment and access to information and education. Uganda and Rwanda currently have no HIV/AIDS-specific legislation although a HIV/AIDS bill has been introduced to the Ugandan Parliament. In spite of the criminalisation of sexual conduct between male persons in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, state policies on HIV/AIDS recognise and prioritise the targeting of certain vulnerable groups, including MSMs.20 Although Ugandas HIV/AIDS strategic plan does not address any of the LGBTI groups, its UNGASS (United Nations General Assembly)
16. Article 1 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. 17. While homosexuality as a sexual orientation is not criminalised by any of the five countries, all except Rwanda have laws which criminalise same-sex sexual contact. 18. Article 32(2) 19. Kenya, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act 2007, Tanzania HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act, Burundi Law no. 1/018 of 12th May 2005 on the Legal Protection of People Infected with HIV and of People Suffering from AIDS (2005). 20. The Rwandan National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS, 2009-2012, The Burundi HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, 2007 -2011, Tanzanian National MultiSectoral Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS 2008-2012, The Kenya National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan, 2009/10 2012/13.

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Progress Report of Jan 2008-Dec 2009 does mention MSMs, putting their HIV prevalence rate at 13.2%.21 At the regional level, the East Africa Community HIV and AIDS Prevention and Management Bill 2010 currently before the East Africa Legislative Assembly makes no mention of any of the LGBTI groups.

Criminalising Homosexuality in East Africa?

While homosexuality as an identity is not criminalised in any of the East African countries, the offence of carnal knowledge against the order of nature which is in the statute books in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi is generally seen as prohibiting same-sex sexual conduct. In practice, it seen as interdicting sex between men rather than women and has been used to harass gay men and occasionally to bring charges against them.22 In addition, Zanzibar expressly criminalises sexual conduct between females. These offences, sometimes referred to as Sodomy Laws, carry hefty custodial sentences ranging from 14 years in Kenya to life imprisonment in Uganda and Tanzania. The genesis of these offences can be traced back to English common law which was later imposed on British colonial territories. Some former colonies have however repealed these laws and in a landmark case, Naz Foundation vs. Government of NCT of Delhi and Others in July 2009, the Indian High Court found the provision of the Penal Code which penalised voluntary carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal... to violate the Indian Constitution insofar as it criminalised consensual sexual acts of adults in private. Tanzania has progressively increased the punishment for same-sex sexual conduct. While the 1954 Penal Code provided for seven years in prison for carnal knowledge against the order of nature, a 1998 amendment increased this to a term not less than twenty years. A further amendment in 2002 further increased the minimum sentence to thirty years. In Uganda, when the Penal Code was revised in the early 1990s, the penalty for unnatural carnality was increased from fourteen years to life in prison. In 2009, the draconian Bahati Bill, was tabled before the Ugandan National Assembly. To the offences already contained in the Penal Code, it proposed to add a slew of new ones including homosexuality, aggravated homosexuality, the promotion of homosexuality
21. Uganda UNGASS Progress Report, Jan 2008-Dec 2009, pg 13, based on the Crane Survey June 2008 to April 2009 covering 947 participants. 22. See, Sections 162, 163 and 165 Kenya Penal Code, Article 145 Ugandas Penal Code, Article 5 Sections 154 and 155 of the Tanzania mainland Penal Code and Sections 145 and 157 of Zanzibars Penal Code.

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and failure to report homosexuals to the state. Further, the bill proposes the nullification of ratified international treaties that are inconsistent with it.23 At the time of writing this report, the Bahati Bill was still before a Parliamentary Committee and although civil society is optimistic that the bill will not be passed into law, it continues to hang over the heads of the Ugandan LGBTI community. While there are currently no laws that criminalise sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex in Rwanda, in 2009 the Rwandan Parliament did consider amendments to its Penal Code that would have criminalised same-sex sexual conduct. The proposed amendments had also sought to criminalise persons who encourage or sensitise people to same-sex sexual relations or practice.24 However, intense lobbying by sections of the Rwandan civil society and the international community saw the proposed amendments removed. On 22 April 2009, the President of Burundi signed into law an amendment to the Penal Code which criminalises sexual conduct between persons of the same sex for the first time. Article 567 of the new legislation makes sexual conduct between persons of the same sex punishable by a prison sentence of three months to two years or a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 Burundi Francs or both.25 In the end, the immense pressure brought to bear on the Burundi government by LGBTI organisations and the international community resulted in an assurance by the President that the law would never be implemented.26 However, it is only a promise without legal guarantee and even though no one has been prosecuted under the law to date, members of the LGBTI community now live under fear of arrest, harassment and extortion by law enforcement. Soon after the law was passed, a man accused of being a homosexual was arrested in Bujumbura and held for several hours and only released after paying a bribe.27

International Instruments
While there is no single international convention devoted to LGBTI issues, several instruments provide a framework for protecting the human rights of LGBTI persons. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),28 the International
23. Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Article 18. 24. Draft law governing the Penal Code, Article 191, version of 2008, aiming at replacing the Revised Decree-Law no. 21/77 of 18 August 1977 governing the Penal Code. 25. International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). State-Sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults. Report published in May 2009. 26. Interview with Belgian Ambassador to Burundi, Bujumbura, September 2010. 27. Interview with human rights activists, Bujumbura, Burundi, October 2010. 28. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49.

26

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),29 the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT),30 and on the regional level, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR). All the East African countries are States Parties to these international human rights agreements. Some of the applicable rights guaranteed include the right to life, the right to health, equality and non-discrimination including gender equality, freedom of association, the right to work, the right to equal protection of the law, the right to property, the right to family, the right to privacy and freedom of movement among others. In what may be a useful precedent for LGBTI individuals in the region, in the case of Toonen vs. Australia,31 the Human Rights Committee (the body which monitors implementation of ICCPR) held that the reference to sex as a ground on which discrimination is prohibited is to be taken as including sexual orientation. Further, the court found that prohibition against private homosexual behaviour by national law constitutes an arbitrary interference with the privacy of the concerned individuals regardless of whether the law is used to harass them or not. In addition to the conventions and covenants, there exist international guidelines and principles relevant to LGBTIs. These include the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights which urge states to repeal criminal laws prohibiting private, consensual sexual acts and the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In short, despite the protections afforded by national laws and policies and international laws and guidelines, LGBTI persons are still being subjected to pervasive discrimination and denial of fundamental rights.

29. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted december 16th 1966, g.A. Res. 2200a (xxi), 21 U.N. Gaor supp. (No. 16), U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, Entered into force January 3, 1976, acceded to by Kenya May 1, 1972; Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted December 10, 1948, g.A.Res. 217a(iii), U.N. Doc. A/810 at 71 (1948). 30. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 39/46 of 10 December 1984, entry into force 26 June 1987, in accordance with article 27 (1). 31. Toonen vs. Australia, Communication no. 488/1992, U.N. Doc. No. CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992 (1994).

27

hUMan rIGhts VIolatIons and aBUses Based on seXUal orIentatIon In east aFrICa.
These laws invade privacy and create inequality. They relegate people to inferior status because of how they look or whom they love. They degrade peoples dignity by declaring their most intimate feelings unnatural or illegal. They can be used to discredit enemies and destroy careers and lives. They promote violence and give it impunity. They hand police and others the power to arrest, blackmail, and abuse. They drive people underground to live in invisibility and fear.32 The existence of Sodomy Laws (discussed under criminalising homosexuality in East Africa) and inadequate legal protections of LGBTI persons fuel high levels of verbal and physical violence, social, cultural and religious stigma and discrimination as well as the denial of basic social and economic rights in both public and private institutions. Although Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda maintain laws which prohibit sex between male persons, charges on this count are seldom brought since proving such sexual conduct is difficult. Instead, suspects are charged with diversionary crimes such as loitering, vagrancy and causing public disturbance. However, the introduction of the Bahati Bill in Uganda seems to have emboldened law enforcement and a number of criminal charges have recently been brought for homosexual conduct. One such example is the ongoing case of Simon Tusiime* who was charged in 2010 with having carnal knowledge of a person against the order of nature.

Protector turned Violator: state sponsored homophobia

Many interviewees cited blackmail and extortion by the police as one of the most pervasive issues facing them. In Kisumu, Kenya, Steve* an LGBTI rights activists told us of one such case: Two lesbians were arrested from their house at night and detained in a local police station for several hours without charge. When we went to ask about them, the police decided to charge them with handling stolen property, an offence punishable by up to fourteen years in prison. Instead of engaging with the penal system, we simply paid the police off and had them released. The two women have since gone into hiding for fear of more police harassment.33
28
32. Human Rights Watch. This Alien Legacy: The Origins of Sodomy Laws in British Colonialism, p 48. 2008 by Human Rights Watch. 33. Interview with Steve*, Kisumu, Kenya, October 2010.

29

In Uganda, Frank Mugisha, the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) described how police contrived an elaborate get rich scheme targeting gay men: The police arrested two gay men and after several hours of torture had them make a list of all the homosexuals they knew. Using the list, they arrested many more gay men for the purpose of extortion. I was on the wanted list and I had to hide in Nairobi for two months.34 Despite the fact that there is no law currently penalising homosexuality in Rwanda, in 2009 Rwandan police nevertheless arrested a male member of an LGBTI organisation on suspicion of being a homosexual and detained him for several days without charge and without access to a lawyer.35 In the same year, women en route to a leadership institute organised by the Coalition of African Lesbians were detained at the Kigali International Airport cells for two and a half weeks without charge.36 Male sex workers are particularly vulnerable to police harassment. Njeru* an MSM sex worker in Mombasa spoke of his ordeal at the hands of both police and prison warders: The police often beat me up when they arrest me on the streets. The warders at the prison beat me up too. In prison, the warders announce my entrance to the other prisoners by telling them huyo msichana nimewaletea (I have brought a girl for you). So the prisoners too join in in the harassment and beatings. Since I rarely have money to bribe the police, I have been imprisoned often, sometimes as often as three times in a month. The prison guards are so used to seeing me that they nicknamed me Njeri (a womans name). Sometimes they ask me to cat walk in front of the other prisoners and to show them how gay men have sex. I feel very humiliated.37 In addition to extortion, many MSMs involved in sex work reported being raped by police officers, often in lieu of a bribe. As Everton* a sex worker told us: Police officers carry out night patrols along the street where I work and when I have no money to give them, sometimes they will say pia sisi tupatie (give us some sex too). I have been raped several times by police officers in the green lodgings (road side bushes) after being unable to pay them off.38
34. Interview with Frank Mugisha, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 35. Interview with an MSM, Kigali, Rwanda, September 2010. 36. Interview with an MSM, Kigali, Rwanda, September 2010. See also The Violations of the Rights of Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons in Rwanda, a Shadow Report to the Human Rights Committee, March, 2007. Pg. 12. 37. Interview with Njeru*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010. 38. Interview with Everton*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010.

30

31

A programme officer with a Mombasa based LGBTI organisation confirmed that it is common knowledge that police can be paid off to avoid arrest and that since many male sex workers rarely have the money, they have to provide sex instead.

that one Will spoil your Children: societal homophobia.

Many LGBTI persons especially in Mombasa in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania cited physical and verbal abuse by the community as a major challenge to the conduct of their daily lives. Several informants described having been raped at least once in their lives. James* told us how he contracted HIV/AIDS after being gang raped by a group of men: I was raped by six men in a cave along the beach. They raped me in turns without a condom and left me for dead. I didnt go to the hospital because I needed a police P3 form for treatment. Of course going to the police was out of the question. I was ill for months after that and treated my wounds the best I could. Some time later, I tested positive for HIV.39 While there is no criminal law on homosexuality in Rwanda, the society is generally not accepting of LGBTI persons and some religious leaders have declared the act of homosexuality moral genocide.40 Informants told us of threats against gay people, particularly during the period when Parliament was considering revising the Penal Code to criminalise homosexuality. Jean* a 28 year old MSM described one such incident: I was accosted on a path near my house by strangers in a car. They asked me to accompany them to a local radio station, there to denounce homosexuality and declare it a practice contrary to Rwandan culture. When I refused to get into the car, they gave me one hour to make a decision, if you love your life.41 He continued to receive threats and was forced into hiding in Burundi until the antihomosexuality clause was removed from the revised Penal Code. But homophobic abuse is not limited to LGBTI people alone. Their families are often the targets of abuse and violence, and parents are sometimes pressured into disowning their children. Catherine* shared her story with us:
39. Interview with James*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010. 40. Gasheegu Muramila, Rwanda: Homosexuality Moral Genocide, Says Kolini, The New Times, at http://allafrica.com/stories/200702260968.html (Feb. 24, 2007). See also The Violations of the Rights of Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons in Rwanda, a Shadow Report to the Human Rights Committee, March, 2007. 41. Interview with Jean*, Kigali, Rwanda, September 2010.

32

33

My step-mother goes around telling everybody Im a lesbian to the point that I have been forced to move from the neighbourhood in which I grew up since people have threatened to attack my family. My father is more understanding but he is jeered in the street by people who know about me.42 The fear of discovery and rejection by their families and society at large has driven many homosexuals into heterosexual relationships. Cultural norms only serve to complicate the situation. Most communities in the region view marriage as a social obligation. Among the Luo for instance, an older son is expected to marry before a younger son. A gay man who remains unmarried is considered a minor even by his younger brothers and is prevented from taking full part in family and community rites. Joab* a 28 year old HIV positive MSM from Kisumu described struggling to survive after being disowned by his family: I was a participant in the MSM HIV/AIDS project at KEMRI in Mtwapa when the place was raided. I left fearing for my life and came back to Kisumu. My uncle who suspects that I am gay chased me away because Im not married even though all my younger brothers are. They had threatened to lock me in a house with a girl until I had sex with her. I have nowhere to live now.43 Having been ostracised and disinherited by his parents, Joab has returned to sex work despite his deteriorating health. He has no permanent home and at the time of the interview, he was being housed by another MSM in a student hostel in Kisumu.

the Unwanted tenant: denial of the right to housing

Kampala and Mombasa presented most of the cases of discrimination in the housing sector. Often, LGBTI persons face harassment from landlords and neighbours when their orientation is discovered. In Tanzania where rent is paid as much as six months to one year in advance, summary eviction means that large sums of monies paid are lost without recourse to the law. LGBTI organisations have also been affected, necessitating frequent office changes or causing them to operate without premises. Sally* a founder and official of the leading lesbian organisation in Tanzania described their predicament:

34

42. Interview with Catherine*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 43. Interview with Joab*, Kisumu, Kenya, October 2010.

We were given twenty four (24) hours notice to leave the premises failure to which the landlord was going to call the police and the press. Our legal intern asked two lawyers to take up the matter but one declined on the grounds that he did not want to be associated with people like us while the other advised us to vacate the premises since lesbianism is illegal in Tanzania.44 At the time of the interview, one year after the eviction, the organisation was still struggling to find another office. In Uganda, many informants described being forced out of their homes due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and others because of their involvement in LGBTI work. The Bahati Bill which threatened landlords with up to seven years in prison or a heavy fine if found guilty of housing homosexuals only made a bad situation worse. In its wake, landlords began to evict suspected homosexuals out of fear for their own safety and those of their houses. Frank Mugisha shared one such experience: After I appeared on local television and radio advocating for LGBTI rights, my woes with my landlord and police began. The police came to my house several times prompting the landlord to evict me without notice. He said that people were threatening to burn down his property for accommodating homosexuals. Since then, I have been evicted several other times by different landlords.45 Similarly, Allan* from Tanzania told us how he vacated his own house after receiving death threats from a religious leader: I was given a 24 hour notice by the Imam from a neighbouring mosque to vacate my house or else be attacked. He told me someone had told him that I was recruiting gays in my house.46 At the time of the interview Allan was still living with friends.

44. Interview with Sally*, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010. 45. Interview with Frank Mugisha, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 46. Interview with Allan*, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010.

35

Condemned at school
Students who are suspected to be homosexual are subjected to punishment, suspension and in some cases expulsion from their educational institutions. As a result, many interviewees had their education compromised or terminated altogether, resulting in poor economic prospects. Daisy* a Ugandan lesbian described her difficulties at school: A senior student wrote me a love letter which unfortunately was seen by the class teacher. We were made to kneel down on gravel for six hours and later expelled from school. A letter I was given to take to my parents cited abnormal behaviour as the reason for expulsion. At home my brother beat me and my stepmother told all our neighbours. News of my expulsion spread to neighbouring schools making it difficult for me to be accepted into another school.47 Lee*, an MSM from Tanzania described his struggles to complete his education: When my parents learnt that Im gay, they called me a curse and an embarrassment and chased me away from home, instantly discontinuing my secondary school education. Some years later, I found a sponsor and managed to go back to school but was expelled again after I refused advances from a male teacher who had me expelled for indiscipline. I am still struggling to finish school to date.48 Similarly, neither Everton nor Joab (discussed earlier) went any further than primary school, standard 4 and 6 respectively, due to their sexual orientation. At college and university level, LGBTI students experience threats and violence mostly from fellow students and to a lesser extent from the authorities. One interviewee from Mombasa narrated the demise of his medical career: I came out to a group of second year students at the University of Nairobi medical school whereupon my colleagues became my enemies. I received so many death threats I dropped out of school. Im still looking for an opportunity to finish college.49 In Uganda, Nikolas* suffered the same fate at university.
36
47. Interview with Daisy*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 48. Interview with Lee*, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010. 49. Interview with Mohammed*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010.

37

I came out in the media during an LGBTI advocacy week and immediately began to experience abuse and threats from my fellow students. Even lecturers developed a very bad attitude towards me. I quit college in my final year before the situation got out of hand.50 Bedan* an MSM from Rwanda described how his homosexuality both intrigued and repulsed his schoolmates: A classmate invited me to his room for supper. When I entered the room I found a big group of students waiting. They had planned to forcibly undress me to find out whether or not I was anatomically normal. They thought that the reason I was gay was because I didnt have a penis. I did them a favour and undressed myself, showed them my normal anatomy and then walked out.51

Violated at Work
In the work place, LGBTI persons face discrimination by both employers and employees. Judy*, a lesbian from Burundi described losing her teaching job when her boss discovered that she is a lesbian: I was a school teacher and although I did not disclose my orientation, my superiors had their suspicions. They fired me for refusing to conform to the dress code at work but I think it was just an excuse because I was not the only female teacher who wore trousers and I had been dressing the same way for a long time.52 Likewise, Daisy*(discussed earlier) enumerated her fraught experiences at various jobs: At my first job, the boss made advances towards me to prove to himself whether or not I was really a lesbian. After trying and failing to rape me in his office, he started to victimise me at work and finally handed me a termination letter. When I asked him why he was sacking me, he said that he wanted to protect the young women at the company from my corrupting influence.53 Her second job ended under similar circumstances while Sara* also a Ugandan lesbian was dismissed from a job as a basketball coach before the expiration of her contract and without payment.
38
50. Interview with Nikolas*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 51. Interview with Bedan*, Kigali, Rwanda, September 2010. 52. Interview with Judy*, Bujumbura, Burundi, September 2010. 53. Interview with Daisy*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010.

A teacher from a school I used to coach discovered that I am a lesbian and instigated my suspension and consequent dismissal. It is several months since I was dismissed though my contract is still valid and I have not been paid a cent.54 Danny*, a gay man and a human rights activist ended a promising musical career rather than subject himself to what he considers the inevitable speculation and character assassination in the Ugandan tabloid press.

denial of registration of lGBtI organisations

In comparison to mainstream human rights organisations, there are very few civil society organisations working on LGBTI issues in East Africa. Due to the existence of Sodomy Laws and pervasive societal intolerance, those which work on these issues do so as secretly and anonymously as possible. In addition, dedicated LGBTI organisations are often denied registration on the grounds of contravening public order or public morals. To circumvent these obstacles to registration, many LGBTI organisations are forced to disguise their nature and activities, focusing instead on the broader human rights and health aspects of their programmes. The inability to register their organisations negatively impacts these organisations ability to secure funding thus affecting their operations and their capacity to carry out concrete projects. In Uganda, several LGBTI organisations we visited are not registered; instead, they rely on mainstream non-governmental organisations for fiscal sponsorship. In Burundi and Rwanda, majority of the LGBTI organisations are registered as HIV/AIDS focus organisations. Similarly, in Kenya, one LGBTI organisation has been denied a certificate of registration and all the other LGBTI organisations are listed as either working on HIV/AIDS or other human rights issues. In Tanzania, most LGBTI exclusive organisations remain unregistered. The inability to register not only makes it difficult for these organisations to work and access support, it also goes against the rights and freedoms of assembly and association guaranteed by the Constitutions of the East African states.

54. Interview with Sara*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010.

39

transGender, transseXUal and InterseX Persons: the Untold story

Although often grouped together with gays, lesbians and bisexuals, transgender and intersex people face unique issues within society. In many cases, they face even more serious violations than do lesbians or gay men who are seen by the larger public to at least conform to acceptable gender expression. These violations are perhaps most pronounced with regard to access to healthcare systems which are for the most part woefully unprepared to address the unique needs of intersex and transgender individuals. The strict definition of gender as either male or female presents significant challenges in accessing government and other documents such as identification and travel documents and educational certificates as well as in the use of public facilities.

denied Identity and dignity: Being a transgender Person in east africa

Our informants described numerous problems ranging from the absence of medical guidelines for health practitioners to the inability by many doctors to accurately diagnose gender disorders and conditions and to recommend appropriate treatment including hormone and surgical therapy and psychotherapy. Many doctors, hampered by prevailing societal and religious beliefs, are reluctant to handle transgender persons. The few doctors liberal enough to attend to transgender people do so secretly in private clinics. Consequently, many transgender persons are unable to access these services due to the prohibitive costs involved. The situation is also aggravated by the lack of public health policies on the issue. Lucy*, a 32 year old transgender woman narrated her experience with the Kenyan public health system: Castration is a simple operation but no one would do it. In one clinic the doctor asked me whether I wanted to become a criminal and in another a senior doctor interrogated me in front of students in the hospital wards where I was admitted. The students thought it was all very funny.55

40

55. Interview with Lucy*, Nairobi, Kenya, September 2010.

41

The degrading and humiliating treatment by the healthcare providers causes many transgender persons to engage in dangerous self-administered hormone therapy and even surgical operations. When Lucy could not find a solution to her problem in a public hospital and without money to engage a private doctor, she took matters into her own hands. I relied on my background in biology and extensive research to perform the operation myself. I was desperate. My voice was breaking, my body hair was growing and I was increasingly suicidal. I thought that if I didnt act soon, it would be too late. I bought all the drugs and implements I needed and castrated myself in my bedroom. I know that it was dangerous but to me, it was better than the alternative.56 In Tanzania, when a transgender woman widely known as Aunt Vicky was admitted to Muhimbili hospital with symptoms of possible poisoning and meningitis, hospital officials broadcast her presence there attracting large crowds who waited outside the hospital hoping to catch a glimpse of this oddity.57 A doctor who worked at Muhimibili National Hospital described the conduct of his fellow doctors as unprofessional, saying that their comments were proof of ignorance about transgender issues. He alleged that hospital officials had exposed Aunt Vickys naked body to their colleagues and civilians and photographed her while she was still unconscious in hospital and that those photographs have been widely disseminated. When Aunty Vicky passed away, her relatives had her breasts removed in order to bury her as a Muslim male. She was dehumanised to the grave. Stigma and mistreatment in public hospitals is further compounded by the absence of professional counselling in most public health institutions for either transgender persons or their families. The lack of psychological support hurts everyone as one transgender man told us: My parents are very hostile to me. My father does not speak to me any more and with the exception of one sister, my siblings keep their distance. At first I was very distressed because I did not understand what was happening to me. I know my family is suffering from the same problem, but who will explain my condition to them?58
42
56. Interview with Lucy*, Nairobi, Kenya, September 2010. 57. Nomancotsho Phakade, Could Ignorance Over Trans Issues have Cost Aunt Victoria Her Life? Behind the Mask, (15 June, 2009). http://www.mask.org.za/article. php?cat=Opinion&id=2163. 58. Interview with Sam*, November 2010.

Transgender and transsexual persons face harassment by the police on account of their physical appearance and dressing. In Kenya, a human rights activist for transgender and intersex persons told us about a transgender woman who was arrested and charged with loitering with intent to commit an offence and giving false information to the police. The second charge stemmed from her female appearance and manner of dress. The court made an order to commit her to psychotherapy.59 Ruth* a 33 year old Ugandan described the state of virtual imprisonment in which she lives: I dont leave my house unless it is absolutely necessary. Although I was born a girl, I feel like a man and dress like one and this attracts a lot of attention. People touch me and threaten to undress me in public to see whether Im a man or woman. The Bahati Bill has only made things worse.60 Further, transgender and transsexual persons find it hard to change their personal information on legal identity documents such as national identity cards and passports from one gender to another. In all the East African countries, only two genders, namely male and female are legally recognised. Every child born is assigned a gender and a name conforming to that gender. Changing names in adulthood to reflect a change in gender is difficult. Martha* a transgender woman told us that I have been trying to process a name change for the last two years in vain. The process is tedious and officials are unhelpful and hostile.61 Her inability to change her name on her passport and identity documents has made it impossible for her to travel outside the country and cost her numerous opportunities.

59. Interview with Maina*, Nairobi, Kenya, August 2010. 60. Interview with Ruth*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 61. Interview with Martha*, Nairobi, Kenya, September 2010.

43

Wishing the Problem away: the Case of Intersex Persons

The director of the Support Initiative for People with Congenital Disorders (SIPD), Mr. Julius Kaggwa described growing up as an intersex child and teen in Uganda: I grew up as a girl but developed male features at puberty. Some people started to call me a lesbian and others to call me gay. My mother tried herbal remedies and birth control pills to stop me menstruating but they didnt work. We resorted to praying and fasting. I kept hoping that I would wake up one day a normal man with no period and without breasts. Finally I met a doctor at my church who recommended corrective surgery.62 Julius is now a happily married man with children. Julius was lucky to be allowed to come into his true self since it is common practice in many countries for doctors to perform sex assignment surgeries on intersex infants at birth or early on in childhood. In his opinion, corrective surgery when administered in childhood and without the subjects input constitutes a human rights violation. He added that we discourage infant surgeries as the assigned sex may not correspond with the real gender of the mature person.63 In East Africa, intersex adults, children and their families are subjected to widespread stigma due to ignorance and the belief that this condition is the result of curses or the breaking of cultural taboos. Women who give birth to intersex children are often denounced and abandoned by their husbands and left to raise children without economic support. Our informants narrated instances of abandonment and even killing of intersex children. Attempts to remedy the problem include consulting traditional healers and witchdoctors for cleansing rituals which sometimes include mutilation of the unwanted genitalia sometimes resulting in death. Moreover, intersex children face numerous problems at school where their inability to fit into either of the commonly accepted gender designations present problems such as which toilet or boarding facilities they should be allowed to use. As a result, many intersex children are withdrawn from school at primary level.64 In Kenya, the case of MR* vs. the A.G of Kenya demonstrates the extent to which violations against intersex persons are systematically perpetrated by both state and non-state actors, including family, for the duration of an intersex persons life.
44
62. Interview with Julius Kaggwa, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 63. Interview with Julius Kaggwa, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010 64. Interview with Julius Kaggwa, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010

Born intersex, MR was brought up as a boy. He dropped out of school at primary level owing to stigma and ridicule by other students and the indifference of his teachers. The adult MR endured a forced marriage as well as an arrangement in which his brother would sire his children for him with his (MRs) wife. Unable to fit within the two legally recognised gender identifications of male and female, he could not obtain a birth certificate, national identity card or voters card, to mention but a few of the civil liberties denied him. Later on, he was arrested and charged with rape and robbery with violence. He was exonerated of the rape count when medical tests showed his penis to be non-functional, but was convicted and sentenced to death on the second count. At a loss as to whether he belonged in the male or female prison, authorities settled instead on solitary confinement. MR filed a constitutional petition in which he cited the violations of his fundamental rights including inhumane treatment by prison authorities (intrusive searches and solitary confinement), breaches of his right to a fair trial, his right not to be discriminated against and his right to civil liberties such as birth registration and a national identity card.65 In its ruling, the court refused to recognise a third gender stating that only Parliament could do that through legislation. Further, the court held that the case was not a representative suit as no empirical evidence was submitted to prove the existence of other intersex persons. However, the judges awarded MR Kenya Shillings 500,000 for the indignities suffered in prison.

65. A new Constitution of Kenya was promulgated on 27th August 2010. Muasya Petition filed under the old Constitution in 2008 Inhumane treatment Sections 74(1), right to a fair trial 77(1), non-discrimination 82 (10)(3)(8), Sections 28,30,31 and 38 of the Prison Act cap. 90 and rules 25(1), 103 and 104 of the Prisons Rule, Section 2b & 7 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act cap.149.

45

aCCess to JUstICe
Most of the LGBTI persons interviewed cited the inadequate access to legal representation as a big challenge in addition to a lack of information among the community regarding their rights. Misinformation about the criminal provisions and the mistaken belief in blanket criminalisation of homosexuality affects the ability of the LGBTI persons to approach the justice system for redress when they are violated. Further, when sexual minorities do report human rights violations they often encounter a police force which trivialises their cases or else threatens them with arrest or extortion. As a result, even the most serious violations including rape and assault go unreported.66 In Tanzania, when an MSM by the name of Juma* reported being raped, he was ridiculed and threatened with arrest. We know you Juma, the police taunted him. You are a shoga, so go away.67 In Uganda, informants said that reporting a violation to the police is like taking oneself to the gallows as the police often arrest and detain people without trial for a few days in the hope of extorting money from colleagues or relatives. They narrated to us of incidents in which gay people had been violated but were too afraid to report to the police. My colleague at the office was assaulted and injured by a woman he knows but he cannot report the incident because the woman has threatened to tell the police he is gay.68 The case of transgender, transsexual and intersex persons is even more dire in that they are not legally recognised gender identities and thus cannot approach the justice system as such, especially when the violations complained of are related to their gender identity. Transgender people also live in fear of arrest for impersonation and of blackmail from members of the public who threaten to report them to the police. A human rights activist described how a transgender woman became the victim of police harassment when she reported a crime: She reported a crime and the suspect was arrested. When the suspect told the police that the complainant was not a woman but a man posing as a woman, the police released him and arrested the woman instead.69
66. According to a report by Amnesty International, Love, Hate, and the Law: Decriminalizing Homosexuality, July 2008, pg. 22, ..abuses committed by private actors are compounded by the unwillingness of the State to protect the victims. LGBT people are deterred from seeking help because survivors may face potential criminal prosecution when reporting crimes to the police. 67. Interview with Juma*, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010. 68. Interview with Peter*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 69. Interview with a human rights activist, Nairobi.

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While there is no national free legal aid program in any of the East African states to which the LGBTI community could turn, a few non-governmental organisations have established legal aid clinics which offer free or low-cost legal services for selected cases. However, these resources have remained untapped and few cases related to sexual orientation and gender identity have gone before the courts and very limited jurisprudence exists on LGBTI issues. Joab* (discussed earlier under societal homophobia) has been disinherited by his relatives but cannot afford legal fees and given the nature of his case, it is a challenge to get a lawyer to represent him for free. But even access to resources does not guarantee access to justice as an LGBTI rights activist from Kenya explained: I was at the height of my career (teaching at a college) when I disclosed my orientation to a colleague at work. He told my superiors and the next semester I was not given any classes which amounted to a summary dismissal without benefits. I very much wanted to sue for my rights but that would only have exposed me to more discrimination, stigma and possible police harassment.70 In addition, as the Deputy Executive Director of a leading legal aid organisation in Uganda told us: Few lawyers, especially in private practice, are willing to represent the LGBTI community. The reasons for this range from fear of association with a deeply stigmatised group to fear due to the perceived criminalisation of homosexuality.71 The existence of Sodomy Laws further affects the ability of LGBTI organisations to seek legal redress in civil matters. In a case discussed earlier under the right to housing, the Tanzanian lesbian organisations officials were unable to recover the one years worth of rent from a former landlord when lawyers refused to represent them citing the illegality of the organisations activities. In Uganda, despite the constitutional mandate that an arrested person must be presented in court within 48 hours, Ugandan police detained a group of gay persons for three weeks, finally releasing them without charge.72 Sara* (discussed earlier under the right to work) who was dismissed from her job as a basketball coach had no idea that she could seek legal redress for breach of contract.
70. Interview with William*, September 2010. 71. Interview with Faith*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 72. Interview with Dave*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010.

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Even after her legal options were explained to her during the interview, she appeared reluctant to take any action, mainly because of the stigma a court case is likely to expose her to.

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a BleaK realIty: the ChallenGes oF aCCessInG health rIGhts For lGBtI Persons In east aFrICa
It pains me to remember the many friends I have lost to treatable infections because they could not access treatment in public hospitals.73 Avoidance is the most common tactic taken by sexual minorities with regard to the public health sector. This is especially true among MSMs who feel that their sexual orientation would be difficult to hide in the course of treatment and that such exposure would have negative results. Thus, the simple perception of a hostile healthcare system keeps many needy people away. But this view of the healthcare system is not simply a matter of conjecture. Many LGBTI individuals report similar experiences of stigma and discrimination, breach of privacy and confidentiality and in some cases verbal abuse by healthcare providers. In addition, the high cost of healthcare has led many LGBTI people to resort to self medication, often resulting in complications and in some cases, death. Rose* a Ugandan lesbian who described herself variously as lesbian and transgender described a last ditch visit to a local hospital: I was so sick with tuberculosis, I thought I was going to die. My aunt sent me to see a doctor and when I got there I said Look, Im a lesbian and HIV positive but I want you to help me. He looked at me for a long time, then gave me some antibiotics and said You are in the wrong place, we dont have lesbians here. He sent me away without any examination and without asking if I was on treatment either for TB or HIV.74 In another incident, an MSM in Mombasa described a near miss: I was bleeding from the anus and because I had no money, I went to a public clinic near my house. The clinical officer was horrified. Youre a boy, he said, why are you having sex like this? I left after he called his colleagues to come and look at me. Luckily, it wasnt a serious problem. I thank God KEMRI came because now we can be treated without being embarrassed.75 Similarly, in Tanzania, an MSM told us how a private doctor refused even to examine him for a rectal infection. You want me to touch your sick anus? was all he said before walking away.76
73. Interview with Isaac*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010. 74. Interview with Rose*, Kampala, Uganda, September 2010. 75. Interview with Sam*, Mombasa, Kenya, September 2010. 76. Interview with Moses*, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010.

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In the opinion of the human rights activists and LGBTI persons we interviewed, the situation is even more dire in Rwanda and Tanzania where we did not hear of any LGBTI friendly public or non-profit health institutions and where the majority of LGBTIs cannot afford private doctors. In a small town in Rwanda, MSMs expressed gratitude at having access to a nurse who treats sick members of the community secretly and confidentially in their homes. He examines us and prescribes drugs which we buy from the local pharmacies. If there is a complicated case, he sends us to a specific private clinic which is very costly.77 Even when, as in Kenya, Uganda and Burundi a few private organisations do provide sensitive health services to sexual minorities, many LGBTI individuals avoid them because they do not want to be seen frequenting gay clinics. For instance, while the Kisumu Initiative for Positive Empowerment (KIPE) runs an MSM health project, a social worker admitted that their services were still not accessed by many men in the area: There are still many MSMs too afraid to come here because they dont want to be seen by their friends or relatives. Some of them asked us to open at night but unfortunately we cannot.78 Clearly, there is a lot to be desired in the training of health personnel. Even when health practitioners are not overtly hostile, they are rarely equipped to adequately respond to LGBTI issues. While treatment is sometimes rendered, it is often accompanied by evangelisation and attempts to save LGBTI individuals from their sinful lives.

77. Interview with Felix*, Rwanda, September 2010. 78. Interview with KIPE staff, Kisumu, Kenya, October 2010.

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Intersections of access to health and hIV/aIds

The combination of fear, stigma, poverty and self medication creates a perfect storm which fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS within the LGBTI community and society at large. This is especially important in light of research which has shown MSMs to be one of the most at risk groups for HIV/AIDS in all five East African countries. In Kenya, MSMs contribute 15.2% of new HIV infections nationally.79 In Uganda the UNGASS Progress Report (Jan 2008-Dec 2009) estimates the percentage of HIV positive MSMs at 13.2%80 while statistics put the prevalence in Tanzania and Rwanda at 12.4% and 5.2% respectively.81 It is not surprising therefore that the National HIV/AIDS strategic plans of all East African countries (with the exception of Uganda) incorporate programmes and strategies aimed at MSMs, acknowledging them to be one of the most at risk groups for HIV/AIDS infection. However, despite acknowledgement and inclusion, governments have been slow to implement the relevant programmes. Despite the acknowledgement of the need to target MSMs among other vulnerable groups, most government sponsored media sensitisation campaigns on HIV/AIDs focus only on heterosexual relations. The coordinator of the MSM Services Programme at the Liverpool Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre had this to say: We need awareness raising information, communication and education materials where all members of the community are taken into account. We have generated such materials targeting MSMs but we cannot publicly display them without the approval of the government. We are working hard to see to it that these materials are distributed to the relevant groups and in prisons but as long as the Sodomy Laws are in place the challenge remains.82

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79. Kenya National AIDS Strategic Plan, Mode of Transmission (MoT) Study, 2008; Kenya Aids Survey, 2007. 80. Uganda UNGASS Progress Report, Jan 2008-Dec 2009, pg 13, based on the Crane Survey June 2008 to April 2009 covering 947 participants. 81. Baral, S. et al. A Systematic Review of HIV epidemiology and risk factors among MSM in Sub-Saharan Africa 2000-2008. International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 2008 and National AIDS Control Commission (CNLS) of Rwanda, Exploring HIV risk among MSM in Kigali, Rwanda 2009. 82. Interview with Lorna Dias, Nairobi, Kenya, September 2010

naMInG and shaMInG: the role oF the MedIa In shaPInG PUBlIC dIsCoUrse
This ruling serves as an important warning to anyoneMinister, Pastor or Boda-Boda riderwho believes that they can abuse, or threaten to abuse, the fundamental rights of fellow citizens with impunity. It also serves as a wake-up call to media houses that are making a mockery of the principles of freedom of speech and responsible reporting.83 The media has played and continues to play a vital role in the formation of public opinion in East Africa. While the media was instrumental in advancing the cause of prodemocracy movements and weakening the position of repressive governments in the 1990s, their record has been less than stellar as concerns LGBTI rights. While there have been commendable efforts to balance reporting by some sections of the media in Kenya, in all the other East African countries interviewees accused the media of ignorance of LGBTI issues or of outright bias which has helped to fuel public homophobia. In Rwanda, during the debate on the proposed amendment of the Penal Code to criminalise same-sex practices, the media was initially extremely hostile to the LGBTI community. On various radio call-in shows, the hosts showed a shocking disregard for journalistic ethics and limits, allowing free reign to extreme and violent opinion calling for the killing of homosexuals or calling for them to be returned to Europe.84 During a debriefing conference by the civil society coalition in Rwanda, many media members did not believe that LGBTI individuals even existed in Rwanda. Some members who were present and who identified themselves as homosexual were subsequently outed to the public. However, several Rwandan informants also observed that some members of the media were supportive and eager to learn even as other sections of the media fanned the flames of hatred against the LGBTI community and poisoned the national atmosphere. The Rwandan civil society coalition working to oppose the anti-homosexuality article made a strategic decision not to involve the media until the Penal Code was being discussed in Parliament at which point they were relatively assured of having the provision dropped. Only then did the coalition seek to engage the media. This was done in order to avoid having polarising media debate influence the Legislatures decision. The decision by
83. Joe Oloka Onyango, Director of the Human Rights & Peace Centre at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University in response to the ruling in Kato vs. Muhame. 84. Interview with Jean*, Kigali, Rwanda, September 2010.

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Parliament to drop the provision rendered the debate on the morality or lack thereof of same-sex practice moot and cooled the temperature of the debate in public. In adopting this strategy of tactical avoidance, the Rwandan civil society coalition kept Burundis experience of anti-homosexual legislation firmly in mind. In the same year as Rwandas draft Penal Code was introduced in Parliament, Burundis Legislature and public debated the merits of criminalising same-sex behaviour. When Burundis media weighed in, it was often from a position of ignorance and prejudice, inflaming public opinion against homosexuals and creating a wellspring of support for the anti-homosexual law. In Uganda and to some extent Kenya, much media coverage has been content to merely repeat public sentiment on the issue with no attempts made to filter or direct even the most inflammatory opinions or to put out objective coverage on the issue. On occasion, the media has been content to resort to fabrication, transforming a gay mens party in Wandegya, into a gay wedding. A rumour started in Mtwapa in Kenya was similarly manipulated in the press with disastrous results. On February 11 2010, a Daily Nation correspondent reported that The small town of Mtwapa in the coastal town of Kilifi may make history if it hosts Kenyas first gay wedding planned for Friday. A day later, in a story entitled Mob Attacks Gay Wedding Party, the same correspondent reported that Kenyas would-be first gay wedding was violently stopped by protesting youths and police on Friday at Mtwapa near Mombasa, hours before it was due to take place. While the use of quotation marks around the word wedding suggests uncertainty on the reporters part, he however added that Police intervened as dozens of Christian and Muslim youth stormed the apartment where three men including the gay couple had been putting up, intent on flushing them out to stop the wedding. However, both Bishop Chai and Mr. Farid Abud who were present at the time as well as the Mtwapa police commandant confirm that all arrests were made at the KEMRI compound and that reports of a wedding were false. Asked for clarification, the reporter maintained that he depended for his information on the police and citizens in Mtwapa and reported what he was told. In Uganda, the tabloid media has been at the forefront of whipping up public sentiment against the LGBTI community. In its conduct and its coverage, the tabloid press has been irresponsible, libellous and criminal, contributing significantly to the violence and hatred visited upon LGBTI individuals by society and state actors alike. Red Pepper, the oldest of these publications established the practice of outing homosexuals in its pages. On 21st October, 2010, Rolling Stone, a new tabloid paper published a list of top one hundred (100)
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gays and lesbians together with their photographs and addresses eliciting immediate violence against the people so mentioned. The tabloid further alleged that in light of an epidemic currently decimating the LGBTI community, homosexuals have embarked on a massive campaign to recruit 100,000 children to make up the numbers.85 The charges of recruitment of children by homosexuals are often cited as the most pernicious of homosexual activities in the country. The mainstream media has been no friend of LGBTI rights. During the debate on the Bahati Bill, even mainstream newspapers gave free rein to anti-gay voices while very little space was devoted to those voices in support. A report by Ugandas Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law opined that with only a few notable exceptionsUgandas mainstream media maximised the voice of those who oppose homosexuality, and minimised the voice of those who, in the name of human rights and constitutionalism, beg to differ.86 In Tanzania too, the media is said to be notorious for invading the privacy of LGBTI persons, sometimes with endorsement of state actors. Dr. Kandusi the executive director of the Centre for Human Rights Promotion in Tanzania told us of a case his organisation had documented for the Tanzanian LGBTIs shadow report to the Human Rights Committee: On May 2009, a reporter for the newspaper Ijumaa accompanied three police officers investigating two men for same-sex conduct, following them into a hotel room which they then broke into and began taking pictures of the men. The men were arrested and the photographs later appeared in Ijumaa under the heading Caught Live!87 The related article included derogatory and discriminatory language intended to create animus against men who have sex with men and all those who violate national ethics.

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85. Rolling Stone, 21st October 2010. 86. Ugandas Anti -Homosexuality Bill The Great Divide, compilation by the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, February, 2010. 87. Interview with Dr. Emmanuel Kandusi of the Centere for Human Rights Promotion, Dar es Salaam, September 2010.

one steP ForWard, tWo stePs BaCK?

Conclusion and recommendations
The struggle for LGBTI rights in East Africa continues in the context of criminalisation and societal discrimination. In addition, there have been significant legal challenges including the passing of Burundis anti-homosexuality law and the overwhelming support for Ugandas Bahati Bill. Also in Uganda, the voluble and well coordinated campaign against the LGBTI community has resulted in an entrenchment of negative perceptions and an extremely charged situation for members of the community. It is tempting in this context to conclude that the battle for LGBTI rights was losing ground, especially in the war for hearts and minds. But while the piecemeal nature of change and the magnitude of the losses might suggest a losing battle, progress is being made. More and more people are coming out as LGBTI, and allies continue to defend LGBTI rights in the trenches, the Bahati Bill remains in legal limbo and Ugandan activists refuse to be cowed in the face of violence and murder. As has been the case elsewhere in the world, the quest for equal rights for LGBTI individuals will more likely resemble a long drawn out battle of attrition than a quick moving, dramatic battle.

Education and Sensitisation:

There can be little doubt that extreme and pervasive ignorance about sexual minorities exists and is widespread in East Africa as elsewhere in Africa. The need to address this ignorance was a constant theme in every town and every country we visited. Not a single person we spoke to failed to express the need to educate the wider public on the truth of LGBTI life. What is not so clear are the modalities of such an educational campaign. In Africa, sex and sexuality of whatever kind, are not subjects of general and open discussion. Therefore, the possibility of an open and honest debate on homosexuality in a context where similar debates on the subject of dominant heterosexual practice are virtually non-existent is very slight indeed. Some educational initiatives are already under way but these are targeted at specific groups of people including health workers or law enforcement officials for instance. It is in these areas, namely health and law enforcement that is likely to have the most

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immediate positive effects on the lives of LGBTI people since lack of healthcare and harassment by law enforcement officials currently have the most negative effects on this community. However, the ultimate aim should be changes at the policy level such as changes in medical school curricula and clearly stated government policies about nondiscrimination in the provision of treatment. At present, there is a shocking lack of knowledge among ostensibly well-educated health professionals about LGBTI people and their healthcare issues. A recent documentary filmed at the University of Makerere medical school is instructive.88 Aflodis Kagaba, head of Rwandas HDI and himself a doctor says that the Rwandan medical curriculum makes no mention of homosexuality or transgenders or transsexuals. Only a fleeting mention is made about the pathologies of anal sex. As to the possibility of care for transsexuals in Rwanda, Dr. Kagaba thought the chances were slim. In his opinion, a transgender showing up at a Rwandan hospital in search of treatment would be lucky to simply be turned away. These targeted educational campaigns are extremely important and are likely to have exponentially positive effects on the LGBTI community if successful considering the degree of difficulty which LGBTI persons, particularly MSMs have had in accessing nonjudgmental and confidential healthcare as well as the numerous instances of police harassment experienced by the community as a whole. In addition, media training is another urgent point of action especially considering the significant negative impact that irresponsible media reportage has had in turning public opinion firmly against the LGBTI community, particularly in Uganda. Some of the educational and sensitisation work has been taken on by LGBTI organisations themselves although several civil society initiatives exist as well. By and large, the involvement of the larger civil society has been as a result of overtures by the LGBTI community. In particular, strong and fruitful partnerships were established in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda in response to the tabling of anti-homosexual legislation there. These partnerships should be maintained, strengthened and expanded. Not only do mainstream civil society groups have better capacity and stronger networks in government and elsewhere, they also have greater legitimacy in the eyes of the public. They would also have the effect of mainstreaming LGBTI concerns and issues into the larger policy making frameworks thus legitimising LGBTI concerns as larger human and civil rights issues. A window of opportunity has been created which should be expanded and consolidated in anticipation of more such efforts in the future.
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88. Kuchus of Uganda, Mathilda Piehld Director, 2008.

Capacity Building and Networking:

As the old adage goes, charity begins at home, and because the struggle for LGBTI rights should preferably be led by LGBTI individuals themselves, there is an urgent need to build capacity within the LGBTI community, particularly within LGBTI organisations many of which are currently experiencing significant organisational and funding problems. In too many instances, organisations are extremely personalised and institutions and processes weak and non-transparent. In addition, while institutional capacity building among LGBTI organisations is important, it is no less important among LGBTI individuals themselves. Even in the largely disadvantaged milieu of East Africa, LGBTI people are particularly badly hit. Many sexual minority people are economically and socially disadvantaged as a direct result of their sexual orientation. There is a significant population of LGBTI youth who have little or no education having had been expelled from their homes and schools and who as a result have few sellable skills and who often turn to sex work as a result. The possibility of educational and occupational support for LGBTI persons including micro-finance or continuing education would go a long way towards empowering them in their societies.

Legal Initiatives:
On the legal front, a considered and targeted use of the legal system, particularly the courts is in order to help further LGBTI rights in East Africa. A very recent example of a successful use of the court system occurred in November 2010 when SMUG went to court to request that Rolling Stone, a new tabloid newspaper desist from publishing the names and photographs of people it alleges to be homosexual. Though Giles Muhame, the editor of the paper has vowed to resist the ban, the ruling sets a positive precedent for possibility of using the courts to advance the rights of LGBTI individuals in future. Related to this is the need to provide LGBTI groups and individuals with access to legal assistance and aid on the numerous occasions where their rights are contravened by law enforcement officers and by the community at large. Many LGBTI people cite pervasive discrimination in access to housing, to education and to employment. By and large, these violations go unaddressed and opportunities to obtain redress and to further the cause of LGBTI rights go begging. The provision of affordable and accessible legal help is thus of extreme importance.
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To this end, there is a need to sensitise the LGBTI community at large on their rights such as they exist under the law. Many opportunities to pursue legal redress of discrimination have gone begging because of ignorance on the part of the community on what protections the law does afford them, even in the face of continuing criminalisation of same-sex acts. However, in order to design and implement effective and targeted interventions on whatever front, there needs to be a greater level of understanding of the size and needs of the LGBTI community. To this end, it is extremely important that some study be undertaken to better document the extent of LGBTI practice in East Africa. Finally, while it may seem to present a formidable challenge, the need to constructively engage faith based institutions should be considered. Since much of the objection to sexual minorities and the protection of their rights in East Africa is rooted in religious doctrine, a more tolerant and accommodating stance by religious leadership would go a long way towards reducing stigma and discrimination among the public and to dialling down the levels of homophobia and opposition in the region.

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