A prominent LGBT activist in Uganda has sought political asylum in the United States after citing his country’s “Jail the Gays” law. In his application, John Abdallah Wambere, who has also been featured in an award-winning documentary Call Me Kuchu, explained that if he continued to live in Uganda, he would be put behind bars and that would restrict him from being of any use to his community.
41-year-old Wambere, affectionately called Long Jones, is gay and the legal group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) is representing him before the United States, citing Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on February 24. The law sanctions life imprisonment for members of the LGBT community.
“It is not safe for John to return to Uganda. Even before the bill was signed, John was outed as gay by newspapers, harassed by strangers, evicted from his home, beaten up and received death threats from anonymous phone calls. Now he also faces life imprisonment should he return,” stated GLAD in its announcement of the asylum application.
Wambere is a self-proclaimed lifelong activist for LGBT Ugandans. He co-founded Spectrum Uganda Initiatives in 2000, one of the few surviving LGBT organizations in Uganda that seek to provide education, safety and legal assistance to distressed gays and lesbians as well as those who are HIV positive. Wambere expressed his sorrow in having to seek asylum in America, especially because he has friends and loved ones in Uganda. He also fears that they are grave danger, as most of them are outed members of the LGBT community.
“This has been a very, very difficult decision for me. I have devoted my life to working for LGBT people in Uganda and it gives me great pain not to be with my community, allies and friends while they are under increasing attack. But in my heart, I know it is my only option and that I would be of no use to my community in jail,” said Wambere.
Violence including evictions, abductions, arrests and mob attacks, against the LGBT community in Uganda has been on the rise since the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which also allows lengthy jail sentences to those found guilty of aiding or abetting homosexual activities. This includes volunteers working for nonprofit organizations that assist gays and lesbians as well as HIV positive patients.
Despite the hostile situation worsening every day, many activists have chosen to stay on in the country and work in secrecy, lest they be targeted by politically emboldened police force and townspeople. Even though this has led to immense international outrage, with Uganda losing some foreign aid upon which the government was heavily dependent, a majority of Ugandans continue to support the draconian law.
In April, more than 1,000 Ugandans gathered at a rally near Kampala to celebrate the passage of the law and thank the President. Museveni is up for reelection in 2016 and he led the march through the streets while supporters carried placards and shouted slogans like “Museveni, thank you for saving the future of Uganda”, “Obama, we want trade, not homosexuality” and “Homosexuality + AIDS = 100%.”
Photo Credits: Riekhavoc
