LGBTQ+ People in East Africa Are Showing Up for Themselves

Caleb Okereke: “It will not be far-fetched for me to say Rwanda appears less than Uganda or Kenya when LGBTQ+ rights are mentioned in East Africa. In that light, this photo essay on bold queer Rwandese activists delighted my heart. The photos of them, even more so.”

CO: “I have heard differing opinions about LGBTQ+ people who continue to hold faith or practice religion despite its violence to queerness. I believe that faith is inherently personal and this feature on an LGBTQ+-led and -focused church in Uganda illustrates that standpoint perfectly.”

CO: “I knew Shawn Mugisha, the central character in this piece and a trans Ugandan man, for a long time before I reported this article, and so I had seen their passion for LGBTQ+ Ugandans first hand. For the first time though, in reporting this piece, I saw it reflected in his commitment to design sustainable futures for queer Ugandans through agriculture while helping them heal from trauma. Shawn asks: ‘How do we survive?’ and I understand that to have mental and physical connotations.”

CO: “I am including this piece right after my feature on community gardening because it expounds on some of the ideas raised there. Writer Kevin Mwachiro takes us through the need for a realization of how agriculture can work to the benefit of queer people. If it feels urgent, it is because it is.”

CO: “When this story was pitched to me, I knew it was very important for what I believe to be quite obvious reasons. The less obvious one was the fact that it was an LGBTQ+ led intervention and it once more proved something I think I have always known; that in the face of systemic challenges, communities often rise up for themselves. And if they fail, they rise again.”

CO: “I have watched a few episodes of Drag Race but I always love a good story that shows the nexus between TV and culture, even more so when it comes to queer culture. I can promise you that this brief feature will make you chuckle, blush, and maybe even tear up a little.”

CO: “What happens when a gay IT technician in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city decides to start a radio show to challenge attitudes towards LGBTQI+ people in the country? My answer is: easily a revolution.”

CO: “I will tell you specifically about how this story made waves outside of the news in Uganda: it was a big deal. Identification is a huge part of identity and for a trans woman in Uganda to have her National ID reflect her trans identity remains a big deal. In her own words; ‘My ID says that I am also here.’”

CO: “This feature questions widely held concepts about villages and our understandings of progressiveness to only be feasible in cities and townships. How does forgoing our immediate assumption of tolerance for urban areas advance inclusivity?”

CO: “Even though the headline says Kenya, this piece interviews LGBTQ+ people from Tanzania and Uganda as well. It is equal parts haunting as it is inspiring. I am personally averse to a celebration of survival in a manner that can numb us to the reason as to why violence shouldn’t exist in the first place, but everyone here, in these videos, in this article is worth celebrating. They survived.”

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