ª MEDIDAS DE SEGURIDAD E HIGIENE DEL PERSONAL

My interest to conduct research on the aspect of homosexuality in Uganda started while writing my masters’ thesis in 2014. My master’s thesis is entitled: The Politics of knowledge on African Sexualities and its effect on women’s health: a case of female genital mutilation (FGM) among the Sabiny in Uganda. In this study I discovered that one of the reasons why FGM persists,

despite growing anti-FGM advocacy, was that there was a serious lack of communication between pro-FGM camps and the Anti-FGM camps. Both camps are dismissive of the other. The study also found out that both camps neglected the aspect of women’s health while attempting to describe the other as ignorant and silent of what FGM means for a woman’s wellbeing. Observations illustrated that the tradition of not broadly and openly engaging with a social phenomenon from local contexts contributed to the ongoing ignorance regarding the dangers of FGM to women’s health. Homosexuality, like FGM tends to suffer from a similar experience. Homosexuality in Uganda and the awareness of its presence and practice is still overshadowed by a tradition of silence. This gives an uncontested impression that contextual factors are actually silent and dormant when it comes to shaping the way in which homosexuality is perceived and acted upon in Uganda. In my experience of working with human rights organizations in Uganda, I have found this to be one of the hindrances to proper engagement with the society and this slows down the understanding of sexual minorities’ rights. It was therefore my ardent expectation that a scholarly work on the aspect of homosexuality, written from a Ugandan context would facilitate in availing some information on how the local context engages with the subject of homosexuality.

In the literature review on homosexuality in relation to this study, I have discovered that there is a scarcity of scholarship on the aspect of homosexuality written from within the Ugandan context. Here, I refer specifically on the scholarship that which seeks to analyses the debate on the 2014 AHL as an equal contestation between the local and the foreign actors. Most of the available scholarship tend to emphasize the nature of silence surrounding the aspect of homosexuality in Uganda; this is stressed to the extent that the Ugandan society only become active contributors only after provocation by a foreign force (Tamale 2007; Kama 2014a; William 2013, Nazi and Karamagi 2014). As such, this could be one of the reasons that contributes to an ongoing perception that homosexuality is a subject coated with silence in Uganda and as such, argued to be a foreign practice (Nyanzi 2013a).

Regarding the aspect of homosexuality criminalization, the few studies which have attempted to demonstrate the activeness of the local context, have nevertheless, restricted enquiry especially to sociological, cultural and human rights perspectives. The theological approach on homosexuality criminalization as an equal contestation between foreign and contextual factors in Uganda is a less exploited gap. As a Ugandan, I felt motivated to contribute to the generation of scholarship that addresses the aspect of homosexuality written from within the Ugandan

context. In this way, I intended to contribute to this gap. Not only does this study seeks recognition of a possible and equal contribution of both the local and foreign actors on the legislation of the 2014 AHL, but also to recognize the effect of a supposed silence of the Ugandan society on homosexuality.

1.4.2. Homosexuality as a divisive force.

As I reflect on the aspect of homosexuality and how it is perceived and acted upon by Ugandan actors, it appears to me that it is a divisive subject. As a contentious subject it could be considered capable of generating divisive opinions that may contribute to the criminalization of homosexuality in Uganda. While recent homosexuality criminalization in Uganda painted the country as a largely homophobic environment, such descriptions are viewed by many from within the Ugandan society as misjudgments and manifestation of ignorance of the Ugandan cultural and moral worldview (Museveni 2014). This is not only between the international and local contexts, but also experienced between various actors in the Ugandan context such as, the ordinary people, religious leaders as well as politicians. Within the country, politicians still discredit one another on grounds of whether one supports homosexuality or not. From the Christian perspective, the church leaders in Uganda have often held diverse opinions over homosexuality. While some church leaders seem to support pro-gay activism, others condemn such actions along with the practice of homosexuality. For example, Bishop Ssenyonjo, an Anglican clergy was excommunicated for his involvement with homosexuals in Uganda (Williams 2014). However, the supposition that the AAEs were responsible to the legislation of the law as it is given by the dominant international perception, contradicts experience from the local context and dismisses the power of action that may be embedded by the divisive nature of homosexuality within the context of Uganda. Without denying the contribution of the AAEs, and not taking for granted the possible contribution of local contexts, I felt the desire to take the debate further by proposing to analyse critically, the extent to which the AAEs influenced the legislation of the 2014 AHL in Uganda.

1.4.3. Viewing the Local context as active

Homosexuality is still a controversial issue in Uganda. Although the 2014 anti-homosexual law was found null and void on procedural grounds, there have been signs suggesting a possibility of introducing it again for debate in parliament. Despite the nullification of the law, the

existence of active pro-homosexuality camps and anti-homosexuality camps did not cease to exist. From both the media and scholarship it is indicated that these camps are not represented by foreigners but by local people. The question that arises is; what propels local people to revolt aggressively against homosexuality to the extent of calling stricter forms of punishment on those caught practicing homosexuality? This is seemingly an insurgence they have not done for decades since the introduction of the colonial sodomy laws. How could such revolts be explained? There is a necessity to pay a more critical attention on how the understanding of homosexuality has evolved with time to the present day. Although the local contexts are not immune to foreign influences as it could be the case with the AAEs in Uganda, there seems to be some limitations regarding AAEs’ influences. These limitations could be used to explore the role of local contexts. It seems that any dismissive approach on the factors that led to the 2014 homosexuality criminalization in Uganda, risks not giving recognition to limits of influence on this phenomenon. This study therefore, would seek to offer an inclusive approach that takes recognition of the limits of influence for both the local and foreign interventions toward the legislation of the 2014 AHL. In the following section, I present the statement of the Research problem.