LGBTI people
were beaten, brutalized, arrested, sexually assaulted, trans women’s hair was
forcibly cut and trans men were fondled at Uganda’s Pride fashion show last
night (4 August).
But despite
suffering one of the worst raids in recent memory, Ugandans are still planning
on marching in a parade tomorrow.
The raid
occurred on Thursday during the Mr and Miss Pride pageant, mainly for
transgender participants, with several people in attendance in Kampala.
Police raided
the event at around 11.30pm, with more than 20 armed policemen storming the
venue and started arresting the people there.
One man broke
two bones in his spine after jumping off the fourth floor of the building.
Pepe Julian
Onziema, a trans man, an activist with Sexual Minorities Uganda and one of the
organizers of the event, told Gay Star News he was grabbing a drink when he saw
Frank Mugisha being questioned by police.
‘It happened
really fast,’ he said. ‘They cuffed them and started walking them out… When I
was trying to ask what was happening, an officer pushed my face and held one of
his guns at me as I was cuffed as well.’
Kamugisha, a
Kenyan who were there at the club, said it happened like a blur.
‘[Police]
picked all Mr and Miss Pride contestants pulling off their hair plus undressing
them to ascertain whether they were men or women, in all this some people were
screaming and wailing. They were all beaten and told to keep quiet,’ he said.
Monalisa, a
22-year-old Ugandan trans woman and student, was one of the presenters at the
show who was arrested and detained for eight hours. She said they were
interrogated by officers.
She told Gay
Star News: ‘Prison is the worst place you can imagine being at. They asked why
I was trans and why I behave like a woman and yet my genitals are for a man.
One had to touch my private parts to really prove whether I was male or female.
‘I felt
degraded to a point of wanting to commit suicide.’
Pepe added to
GSN that trans women had their hair forcibly cut, while trans men were fondled
by officers.
While they were
detained, a police officer pushed him and two others inside cells where they
were stripped and searched.
‘We were forced
to shower,’ he said. ‘One guy, a really big guy, kept hitting me. He kept on
punching my face, my left ear. I’m hard of hearing today.
‘All I could be
was angry. It was just anger. It was heartbreaking for us to be celebrating and
just being ourselves and then for this to happen…I felt humiliated.’
Pepe, Frank and
others were freed around 1am, while others like Monalisa were kept for a lot
longer. Many have reported injuries, but no more than the man who fled by
jumping off the fourth floor of the building.
‘Tomorrow
there’s supposed to be a parade, and people still want to participate,’ Pepe
said. ‘As much as it’s a blow, the community is in fear but are not paralyzed.
Above that fear, there’s courage and there’s defiance.’
He continued:
‘To be treated as a criminal for just wanting to express myself or to be in a
space of love, of community and then someone to make me a criminal of it.
‘It’s
outrageous, it angers me, it breaks my heart. As a Ugandan in this day and age
that we still continue to treat each other the way we do.’
Monalisa feels
the same.
‘I’m not
scared. They can’t silence me. I have a voice and a right. It makes me want to
do more for my community and talk more about our issues,’ she added.
And in a way,
Pepe says he feels ‘proud that it happened’.
‘You might wonder why, it means
we doing something right in this community. People know we’re here, and they
know we’re not going to be silent. As much it makes them uncomfortable, this
will make them know we’re here more than ever.’
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