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Story Publication logo February 28, 2014

Uganda’s Outlaws: Life in the LGBT Community of Kampala

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Image by Daniella Zalcman. Uganda, 2014.
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As Uganda struggles with anti-homosexuality legislation, the growing LGBT-rights movement continues...

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This article is also featured in Italian on the online publication Internazionale.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Feb. 24 signed into law a bill imposing harsh sentences on so-called homosexual acts.

Photographer Daniella Zalcman traveled to Uganda in January to document lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights activists as they prepared for life under the impending law.

The community, already living a discreet existence, had gone further underground. One group burned its paperwork and campaign posters, and many individuals toned down their online presence, changing their names or photos on Facebook or deleting Twitter or Instagram accounts. Scores of people have left the country, according to activists who remain. Many went to neighboring Kenya; though it also has antigay laws, police are far less aggressive about enforcing them. Others have gone to Rwanda, Burundi or South Africa.

Those who stayed will be forced to continue their secret double lives, or perhaps face prosecution.

To read the full article, written by Chelsea Matiash, click here.

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