Everything changed when my father died. Being gay in a country where homosexuality is a great taboo was made all the more unbearable by my family’s refusal to accept me for who I am. Then one day I was accused of being a pedophile and they sent me to prison.
I wasn’t alone - many of my friends were being openly insulted and beaten in the streets. Taboo was turning into sin and lives were being lost.
My country was becoming a very dangerous place for people like me. I had to get out.
London offered some kind of hope for a better life. It was 2003. Seven years and three failed applications - not to mention the 6 months I spent in a detention centre - would pass before authorities in the UK finally granted me asylum.
It was during my time in detention that I got involved in campaigning on behalf of my fellow LGBTIs.
It’s been a long and hard road to get here but I am proud of my journey.
I still think about Uganda
“Homosexuality is not a human right in our country. It is a threat.. It has to be regulated”
- David Bahati, Ugandan politician and author of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill
“I grew up in a country where homosexuality is a taboo”
“I was starting to think that someone I knew was chasing me, wanting me dead”
“There came a time when death didn’t mean anything to me. I wasn’t scared of dying. I saw death everywhere; in my friends’ eyes; in trains; in everything around me. I was paranoid”
Abbey Kiwanuka
35 years old
Ugandan-Tanzanian
Homosexual