Advanced search
Publication Cover
Journal of Eastern African Studies Volume 9, 2015 - Issue 1
Journal homepage
974
Views
10
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Special collection: Sexuality and Morality in Uganda: Mass Media and the Framing of a New Public Discourse

Virtual access: the Ugandan ‘anti-gay’ movement, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender blogging and the public sphere

Caroline ValoisCentre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UKCorrespondence[email protected]
Pages 145-162 | Received 25 Oct 2013, Accepted 05 Nov 2014, Published online: 08 Dec 2014
 
Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days

Abstract

In recent years the proposal, passage and overturn of the Anti-Homosexuality Legislation in Uganda have brought an onslaught of international attention to the nation. Featured throughout the international press, Uganda is frequently depicted as a nation fixed in overt homophobia. Anti-gay discourse is omnipresent in the Ugandan public sphere, and reflects a broader moral revolution in the nation. Television and radio broadcasts, periodicals and evangelical Christian sermons frequently denounce the ‘growing threat’ that homosexuality poses to the nation. Yet, accessibility to the Internet has allowed some Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) bloggers to express resistance, contesting anti-gay discourse dominating the Ugandan public sphere. In this way, LGBT blogs act as a site for claims of equal citizenship. By maintaining anonymity, the cybersphere provides a ‘safe space’ for the production of LGBT discourse by Ugandan bloggers. The purpose of this paper is to examine how two Ugandan bloggers have utilised the medium as a site of resistance to dominant anti-gay discourse, while expressing queer identity online. In the context of a bounded public sphere that limits the performance of ‘alternative’ sexualities, the Internet offers public space to claim Ugandan citizenship. Yet, limitations to online access both restrict the types and ways particular forms of sexuality are expressed, and reduce more ‘local’ or private manifestations detached from identity.

Notes

1. President Museveni signed the bill into law in February 2014, but in August 2014 a Ugandan constitutional court overturned the act. The grounds for its dismissal are notable ruling on a technicality – Parliament lacked a quorum when the bill was passed – rather than violating human rights. Lawmakers have since vowed to revive the bill in Parliament. Due to its indefinite nature, discussion refers to the AHB, rather than the law or overturned law. For the purpose of discussion the actual state of the AHB is secondary to the public sentiment around homosexuality.

2. After the AHB was ratified the USA reduced aid and imposed visa restrictions. Aid from the World Bank, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands was either suspended or redirected. Before the bill was passed Britain froze over 11 million GBP of aid. Germany, Italy France, Japan, Spain and Finland threatened to suspend aid. Civil society organisations in Europe and the USA, like Amnesty International, have held protests, petitioned the Ugandan Government and engaged in social media campaigns against the bill. See Martin Plaut, “Uganda donors cut aid after president passes anti-gay law,” Guardian, February 25, 2014. Accessed February 26, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/25/uganda-donors-cut-aid-anti-gay-law.; and “Uganda's anti-gay bill ‘misinterpreted by international donors, officials claim,” Huffington Post, July 7, 2014. Accessed July 8, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/uganda-gay-bill-misinterpreted-_n_5563817.html.

3. While analysis draws upon two blogs by gay Ugandan men, the use of ‘LGBT’ indicates the way the bloggers incorporate themselves into the broader social movement, rather than the expression of a sexual identity alone. The choice of LGBT, rather than gay or queer men alone, is deliberate in order to locate the bloggers’ claim to the global LGBT community, and help reveal the implications for identity formation by associating themselves within the activist movement.

4. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 516.

5. ‘Moral discourse’ in this article refers to the dominance of discourse within the Ugandan public sphere predicated on Christian – largely evangelical – ideology, which emphasises literal interpretations of scripture and encourages Ugandans to live a life based on Christian doctrine.

6. While evangelical Christians have been instrumental in the anti-gay movement and are most prominently featured, it is far more encompassing, and reflects a diverse range of the Ugandan public, including religious leaders of different faiths, and the political and public sector.

7. The use of LGBT ‘actors’ makes use of Castells’ idea that “social actors … build a new identity that redefines their position in society, and by doing so, seek the transformation of the social structure”. Castells, The Power of Identity, 43.

8. Habermas, Structural Transformation.

9. Meyer and Moors, Religion, Media, Public Sphere.

10. At the same time the Ugandan state demonstrates increased control of the media, exemplified in the recent closure of several outlets for printing stories unfavourable to the Museveni regime, and the Daily Monitor newspaper is state-owned.

11. Weeks, “The Sexual Citizen,” 35.

12. Abu-Lughod, “The Romance of Resistance.”

13. Abu-Lughod, “The Romance of Resistance.”

14. Abu-Lughod, “The Romance of Resistance.”, 42.

15. The use of queer refers to a Western-originating construct of homosexuality where queer is normalised. As an identity queer is heavily dependent on Butler's notion of performative sexuality, rejecting the constructs of normative binary categories of heterosexuality. Yet, the increased ‘mainstreaming’ of homosexuality in certain contexts has contributed to normative conceptions of queer identity as well. The utilisation of queer reflects particular expressions of homosexuality, inline with Western constructs. See Butler, Gender Trouble.

16. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness.”

17. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness”; and Richardson and Seidman, Lesbian and Gay Studies.

18. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 516.

19. Personal interview with Icebreakers Uganda, April 27, 2012.

20. Personal interview with Icebreakers Uganda, April 27, 2012.

21. “Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni: Don’t kill gay people,” BBC, December 17, 2012.

22. The reference alludes to the Bugandan king or Kabaka, Mwanga II, during the time of early Christian missionaries in the late 1800s. While Museveni frames Mwanga's alleged homosexuality as private, Ugandan Christians – particularly Catholics – have appropriated the story as a symbol of Christian martyrdom. Converted Christian pages were supposedly executed for refusing to engage in acts of homosexuality with the king. Mwanga's alleged homosexuality is not relegated to the ‘private’ but remains a highly ‘public’ feature in Ugandan religious discourse. The use of Mwanga displays inherent contradictions, as well as the fluid delineation between the public and private sphere in relation to sex; For full statement see “Ugandan President admits gay people ‘did great work for the country,’” GayNews Network, April 10, 2012. Accessed August 12, 2013. http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/ugandan-president-admits-gay-people-did-great-work-for-the-country-5810.html.

23. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 516.

24. Hoad, African Intimacies, xiii.

25. Hoad et al., Sex and Politics in South Africa; and Engelke, “We Wondered What Human Rights.”

26. For in-text quote see Hoad, African Intimacies, 69; Sexuality has become integrated into human rights initiatives and language. In 1994 sexuality was integrated into the UN human rights agenda, and two years later the South African constitution included a clause for sexuality; see Hoad et al., Sex and Politics, 20. According to Stychin (Same-sex Sexualities, 953) more recently same-sex sexuality has made legal headway in national courts in North America and Europe, “through the interpretation of domestic constitutional rights documents; through the development of the common law; through transnational legal regime, such as the European Union; and through the discourse of international law and international human rights.”

27. Bauman, Liquid Times; Dean, “Enjoying Neoliberalism”; Wacquant, Punishing the Poor; and Wiegratz, “Fake Capitalism.”

28. The African Union (AU) has remained relatively mute on the issue of LGBT rights and the rise of anti-homosexuality legislation throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012 UN chief Ban ki-moon called on the AU to confront discrimination to LGBT communities. By May 2014 the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights – a body within the AU responsible for overseeing human rights – adopted a resolution to protect individuals on “the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity” from violence; see “African Commission backs LGBT rights,” May 22, 2014. Accessed September 22, 2014. http://76crimes.com/2014/05/22/african-commission-backs-lgbt-rights/.

29. Jeffrey Gettleman, “Americans’ role seen in Uganda anti-gay push,” The New York Times, January 3, 2010. Accessed August 17, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html?_r=0.

30. The Rachel Maddow Show, “David Bahati interview,” MSNBC, December 9, 2010.

31. Pauline Kairu and Dalton Wanyera. “Hundreds attend Jinja anti-homosexuality rally,” The Daily Monitor. February 17, 2010. Accessed August 16, 2012. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/863490/-/wijije/-/index.html.

32. Pauline Kairu and Dalton Wanyera. “Hundreds attend Jinja anti-homosexuality rally,” The Daily Monitor. February 17, 2010. Accessed August 16, 2012. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/863490/-/wijije/-/index.html.

33. Personal interview with Nicholas Abola Directorate for Ethics and Integrity, June 3, 2012.

34. Personal interview with Nicholas Abola Directorate for Ethics and Integrity, June 3, 2012.

35. Wakeford, “Cyberqueer,” 411.

36. Woodland, “Queer Spaces, Modem Boys.”

37. Shaw, “Gay Men and Computer Communication”; Silberman, “We’re Teen, We’re Queer”; Addison and Comstock, “Virtually Out”; and Cooper, “Lesbians Who Are Married.”

38. Alexander, “Out of the Closet”; and Nakamura, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity.

39. Boellstorff, “Some Notes on New Frontiers”; Dasgupta, “Queering the Cyberspace”; and Anderson, Imagined Communities.

40. Fraser, “Sex, Sexuality and Cyberspace,” 57.

41. He, “Cyberqueers in Taiwan,” 55.

42. Tsang, “Notes on Queer.”

43. Mclelland, “Virtual Ethnography,” 391.

44. Boellstorff, “Some Notes on New Frontiers,” 181.

45. Boellstorff, “Some Notes on New Frontiers,” 181.

46. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 515.

47. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 515.

48. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 515.

49. Bell and Binnie, “Sexual Citizenship,” 445.

50. Warner, The Trouble with Normal.

51. Richardson, “Claiming Citizenship.”

52. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 516.

53. Duggan, “The New Homonormativity,” 181.

54. Duggan, “The New Homonormativity,” 181.

55. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 516.

56. Franklin, Internet and Postcolonial Politics, 2.

57. Woodland, “Queer Spaces, Modem Boys.”

58. World Bank, “Uganda,” 2011. Accessed August 13, 2013. http://data.worldbank.org/country/uganda.

59. Nicolas Kalungi, “Internet usage hits six million,” The Daily Monitor. April 2, 2013. Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/Internet-usage-hits-six-million/-/688616/1736232/-/exf6txz/-/index.html.

60. Freedom House, “Freedom on the net,” 2012. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2012/uganda#_ftn2.

61. Freedom House, “Freedom on the net,” 2012. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2012/uganda#_ftn2.

62. Freedom House, “Freedom on the net,” 2012. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2012/uganda#_ftn2.

63. The founder of Freedom and Roam Kasha Jacqueline has played in instrumental role in LGBT activism. In 2011 Kasha, among others, filed a lawsuit against the tabloid the Rolling Stone after it published the names of LGBT Ugandans under the headline ‘Hang Them’. The Ugandan high court ruled in favour of the three organisations that brought the case, banning media outlets from publicly identifying Ugandans they claim are gay or lesbian. See Tom Walsh, “Uganda media can’t public identities of homosexuals, high court says,” CNN, January 4, 2011. Accessed August 16, 2013. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/04/uganda.gay.ruling/.

64. See Young Vibrant Uganda (YVU) blog. Accessed August 1, 2013. http://gayugandanteen.blogspot.co.uk.

65. See YVU blog, June 25, 2011. Accessed August 1, 2013. http://gayugandanteen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/new-york-passes-gay-marriage-bill.html.

66. See YVU blog, May 16, 2013. Accessed August 2, 2013. http://gayugandanteen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/coming-out-to-my-ugandan-parents.html.

67. See YVU blog, May 16, 2013. Accessed August 2, 2013. http://gayugandanteen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/coming-out-to-my-ugandan-parents.html.

79. Ibid.

81. Mclelland, “Virtual Ethnography”; and Richardson, “Desiring Sameness.”

82. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness.”

83. Independent Gay Forum cited in Duggan, “The New Homonormativity,” 176.

84. Richardson, “Desiring Sameness,” 521.

85. See GayUganda (GU) blog. Accessed August 2, 2013. http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk,.

90. Nsamba Buturo, “Our morals reveal a big national problem,” New Vision, December 29, 2008. Accessed July 28, 2013. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/666322.

91. Nsamba Buturo, “Our morals reveal a big national problem,” New Vision, December 29, 2008. Accessed July 28, 2013. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/666322.

95. Talk of the Nation. “Call me kuchu,” NPR, June 21, 2012. Accessed August 8, 2013. http://www.npr.org/2012/06/21/155513755/call-me-kuchu-ugandas-secret-gay-community.

96. Hoad, African Intimacies, 85.

97. See GU blog, October 29, 2009. Accessed August 2, 2013. http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2009_10_01_archive.html.

98. See GU blog, October 29, 2009. Accessed August 2, 2013. http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2009_10_01_archive.html.

99. See GU blog, October 31, 2009. Accessed August 4, 2013. http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2009_10_01_archive.html.

100. See GU blog, January 31, 2010. Accessed August 5, 2013. http://gayuganda.blogspot.co.uk/2010_01_01_archive.html.

101. See GU's article in The Mantle, February 22, 2011. Accessed August 4, 2013. http://mantlethought.org/content/to-be-gay-uganda.

102. Bell and Binnie, “Sexual Citizenship,” 445.

103. Hoad, African Intimacies, 75.

104. Boellstorff, “Some Notes on New Frontiers,” 182.

105. Boellstorff, “Some Notes on New Frontiers,” 182.

106. Bell and Binnie, “Sexual Citizenship,” 446.

107. Woodland, “Queer Spaces, Modem Boys.”

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Order Reprints Request Corporate Permissions

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

Request Academic Permissions

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.

Related research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.