Uganda anti homosexuals hold placards and chant slogans during an anti-homosexuality protest rally in the town of Jinja, East  of  Walukuba, june,10, 2011. Homosexuality is still a contentious topic in Uganada 

By Joy

Jinja Town,  ,A 30 year-old lesbian in walukuba, touches the scar tissue starting to form between her nose and lip no the legs. The short, sturdily built woman was attacked last week outside her gate by two men she believes followed her home from a bar. They punched beat her repeatedly and when she tried to get away they said, “Come back; we’re not finished with you. You are spoiling our children !” she recalled.

Since the October 2009 introduction in parliament of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a proposal that called for the execution of some homosexuals, enduring accusations of “recruiting” the nation’s youth and suffering physical attack “is what it takes to be a lesbian and a gay in Uganda, 

As she was being beaten, said , “I kept thinking, what would have happened if the bill  had been passed?  of recent one of her friend was chased away from the house by the landlord wheh he learnt that he was agay

 “We are not going to relax  since the first proposal of the law, gays and lesbians in the country say they have faced increased harassment.

In late January, David Kato, a prominent gay rights activist was bludgeoned to death in Uganda after his picture was printed on the cover of the tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone, which outed several gays under the headline “Hang Them.”

There was  a lot of advocacy by the promoters of the bill, using a lot of hate language and this  increased discrimination and harassment of LGBT people

Gays and lesbians have faced eviction, job loss and physical and verbal assault this has increased of recent .

Before the introduction of the bill, homosexuals lived in relative peace in Uganda. In fact, many people were unaware of their presence in what is a conservative, predominately Christian society.

But when the bill was brought to parliament, said Jay, “That is when people started getting curious. [Advocates of the bill] took it upon themselves to describe just, saying they look like this, they dress like this. People used to think that if you dressed like this then you were a sports girl,” ,who wears a Levi’s T-shirt, baggy eans and a baseball cap over her braids.

Now, “Everyday you hear something has happened to someone. There is a group of people who live here who only pray for a chance to do things [to gays], a agay was asked to leave her apartment a couple of months ago when her landlord and neighbours became aware she was gay to protect their children we do not feel any safer even though parliament dropped the anti homosexuality bill