It's no surprise that the lives of gays and lesbians in Uganda have become dramatically worse since the implementation of it's awful anti-gay law (see here, here, here and here for examples), but now the LGBT organization Sexual Minorities Uganda has published a report about life in that country which includes some hard numbers.
The Guardian reports:
The survey recorded 162 incidents since the legislation was passed by parliament. By comparison, Sexual Minorities Uganda recorded only eight incidents in the rest of 2013 and 19 in the whole of 2012.
"[This] represents an increase of between 750% and 1,900% on previous years," the report noted, "an increase which can only be explained by the passage of the AHA and the virulently homophobic atmosphere this has engendered."
In four cases, men accused of being gay were reported to have been kidnapped and tortured. There were 29 incidents where the media "outed" individuals who were later subjected to further persecution.
A 17-year-old boy killed himself by swallowing rat poison and pills on 3 April because he felt his life had no further value, according to the survey.
Jonathan Cooper of the London-based Human Dignity Trust, which supports legal action to decriminalise homosexuality around the world, said: "This report shows the human price that is paid when the LGBTI community is targeted in this way.
The first two men charged under the hateful law for engaging in sex acts "against the order of nature," appeared in court just last week. One was granted bail while the other was denied.
