Daring to be different: inside the life of award-winning Ugandan gay rights activist Frank Mugisha

By Patience Akumu

Frank Mugisha, 29, pulls up in his red sports car. Nothing too fancy, but you can tell it is one of those cars the owner has developed a personal relationship with - old number plate, faded paint…. He lowers his windows and flashes his trade-mark smile - the smile of a man who has negotiated the tricky path of advocating for the rights of homosexual people in Uganda since 2004. 

In a country where the socio-legal regime outlaws homosexuality and most people support the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which if made law would make some homosexual acts punishable by death, Mugisha has sure had his fair share of bumps, potholes and tight corners. His facebook page describes him as: “Out and proud.”

Today, he is not focusing on the battles lost, the lives taken, the humiliation, or the media bashing that are part and parcel of the lives of LGBTIs (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersex people) in Uganda. He is too elated and humbled by the Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Human Rights award he received on 11^th November, he says. The award was established in 1984 to honour innovative people striving for social justice throughout the world. It recognises the kind of courageous activism associated with former U.S Attorney General and New York Senator (Dem) Robert F. Kennedy, a noted civil rights activist.

This is not the only reason Mugisha is smiling. Under his leadership, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the umbrella organization for homosexual rights groups in Uganda also won the 2011 Rafto Prize award, which seeks to promote intellectual and political freedom, and is awarded to voices that are otherwise oppressed by corrupt regimes. Mugisha received the award on behalf of SMUG on 6^th November in Norway.

Winning two international awards within one month is no mean feat. Mugisha says it is because of the unique situation of LGBT people in Uganda, a country which has shown unbridled homophobia. He adds that fighting for homosexual rights in Uganda and living as a homosexual is not easy. And that no amount of money or influence would make anyone choose to live as a homosexual.

“It is who we are. We cannot do anything about it,” he says, adding that he has always known he was a homosexual since childhood.

But tracing his childhood and familial background is something of a sensitive issue. Revealing the Kampala suburb where he grew up might make it easy for people who hate homosexuals to identify his exact home and possibly make his family a target, he cautions.

Sitting peacefully at the balcony of his apartment and taking in the serenity of his surroundings, the idea that someone would witch-hunt him, let alone his family, seems far-fetched. Yet, the November 2010 Rolling Stone newspaper incidence, where the now defunct Rolling stone newspaper printed the names, pictures and addresses of supposed homosexuals with a call to “hang them” is still fresh in Mugisha’s mind.

“I would like to tell you all about me. But the reality is different when you live as a homosexual. I have to protect my family, my friends and other homosexuals who have not yet come out.”



The 2011 Rafto Prize laureate, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), represented by Frank Mugisha (right), Executive Director of SMUG and Pepe, Program Coordinator at SMUG, during the torchlight procession after the award ceremony at the National Venue of Theatre in Bergen on 6 November 2011.  Photo: Liv-Randi Lind and Oddmund Lunde.

 Mugisha says that his present residence is safe. His land lord knows he is a homosexual, while the neighbors mind their own business. This is unlike his previous home where he tells of how the neighbours would peer at him and keep tabs on all his visitors.

“They would be very confused today because I brought home a pregnant woman,” he chuckles, looking pointedly at my swollen belly.

It is for this same reason he does not want the schools he went to published in the media. He however reveals that he was something of an academic high flyer, scoring aggregate 8 in Primary Seven and later 16 points at A’ Level. This, he attributes to the fact that he went to top schools in the country. For High School he was at a catholic single school that today ranks in the top five.

Mugisha does not remember exactly what he scored at 0’ Level, but he says they were good marks.

“I never had to make a CV. I have been doing activism work since 2004 when I was at University. That is why I do not remember all the details of my marks.”

Mugisha went to Kyambogo University where he started the group Ice Breakers so he could relate to people of similar orientation. “We were not out to make noise or anything. We would just get together and talk about things affecting us,” he says.

Mugisha however, found himself writing passionate articles to mainstream media and on the internet, all of them in reaction to the remarks politicians and church leaders would make that he felt violated the rights of homosexuals. He wrote letters to the New Vision and The Daily Monitor, and contributed to online magazines like Queer Ty and Behind the Mask. He also contributed to LGBTI friendly blogs. Mugisha graduated with an Upper Second Bachelor’s Degree in Graphics Design. In 2007, he became chair of Sexual Minorities Uganda and went on to design their first newsletter.

Far from being proud of his achievements as a human rights activist and international award winner, Mugisha says the schools he went to would be offended if he mentioned their names.

“I think even if an LGBTI person won gold for this country they would never be appreciated,” he adds, and you can detect the disappointment in his voice.

Mugisha may have lost friends along the way for being openly homosexual, but he says today there are a lot of people who care and understand him. “They know I am not a child molester. And they have never seen any white man trying to convert me. They realise I am a good person,” he says.

Mugisha credits this to the relentless activism of the LGBTI community. “A small percentage of particularly the elites now appreciates that we are also human beings.” Also, the people who matter the most, like his mother and only brother, are fine with who he is and what he does.

“Some people think the awards are a shame. When I called my mother, she had already heard about it in the media. She is happy for me.”

Frank Mugisha, receiving the RAFTO award.

Mugisha says that the best part of winning the awards is the fact that they highlight once again that homosexual rights are also human rights. And also, it sends an important message to young activists that they too can be recognized for their work.

One of Mugisha’s very close friends, a homosexual male, describes him as an “open, generous and happy person.” While another says he has never met anyone quite like him. But does this kind of open generosity warrant an award?

“Definitely,” says one of them. “It is hard doing what he does.” Asked if he would, like Mugisha, ever come out, he says:  “No! Are you crazy? My parents would kill themselves.”

It is getting dark, and Mugisha’s Apple iphone is incessantly ringing. He has to go and meet his partner of three years. It is time to say good bye to the spotless apartment with pretty furniture, and the numerous pairs of stylish shoes that fill half his corridor. One of them was lucky enough to grace his feet when he stepped up to receive his medals of honour.

The writer is a second year Master of Arts student of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University. She writes for the bi-weekly Observer newspaper in Uganda http://observer.ug/ specializing in human rights reporting and coverage. veroak2001@yahoo.com