Gay rights campaigners in Uganda risk it all by publishing new LGBTI magazine

Gay rights campaigners launched a free new magazine, Bombastic, in order to “share the realities of being gay” in Uganda.

According to lesbian activist and the magazine’s organiser, Jacqueline Kasha, Bombastic intends to “put right many of the falsehoods spread by the Ugandan media, which regularly publicly humiliates and degrades homosexuals”. (The Independent).

Members of the clergy have already threatened to take Kasha to court, but the leader shared that retaliation is expected. “…Nobody else is going to stand for us; our community needs a face,” Kasha explained. A total of 130 campaigners and volunteers are involved with the publication. Police temporarily detained some Bombastic magazine volunteers in the eastern part of the country.

Homosexuality in Uganda is illegal and members of the LGBTI community are not always safe. Gay activist, David Kato, was murdered four years ago after a magazine published his name on a list calling for the execution of gay people. In recent years, the government tried to pass tough new laws against the promotion of homosexuality, and the media takes an openly hostile position against gay people.

30,000 copies of Bombastic’s first issue has “20 personal stories, articles on the clergy, homosexuality and health advice” according to The Independent. Copies of the magazine will be distributed in parliament, the President’s office, and embassies in Kampala on Tuesday.

The magazine will be published four times a year.

Source: The Independent