I’d hazard that much of what Ugandans, at least in Kampala, know about homosexuality comes from the massive amount of pornography they look at in internet cafes (as demonstrated by cheking the history on the webrowser)!

The plot thins.

But on a upbeat note if the Red Pepper believes those researchers who would say that “three million Ugandans have engaged in homosexual activities” then they must be quoting Kinsey’s 10% (of 32 million Ugandans – nevermind the knowingly or unknowingly part).

But I can’t help but ask– how does one unknowingly engage in homosexual activity? Accidently go home to the wrong house and crawl into the wrong bed?

A person who is being persecuted – i.e., at severe danger to life/freedom/political rights/etc. – for being gay, and whose country will not provide protection against persecution, probably has a good claim for refugee protection in another country. What happens next depends largely on the law & practice of that other country – so all such individuals need to do their homework. If possible, contact a national refugee assisting organisation in that other country (nearly all of them have one), or UNHCR, for information.

A forward-looking refugee would probably:

1) if possible, procure a passport, or even a visa to gain access to the would-be asylum country (recognising of course that both of these will often be a fantasy – but at least in Europe, many states are using lack of proper identification as a way to put people in fast-track asylum evaluation procedures, with much less real chance of success;

2) do their homework – start with statistics on UNHCR’s web site. Find out which countries grant asylum to higher/lower % of applicants. If you have family abroad, go where the family is located;

3) gather evidence as to your plight;

4) go as directly as possible to where you’re aiming (many countries use the legally dubious rule of “claim asylum in the first safe country you can get to,” which is a big problem in Europe – e.g. disproportionate numbers of refugees just happen to hit Greece first, and Greece grants protection to nearly none of them; but transit Greece to any other EU country, and they’ll say “you should have asked for asylum in Greece,” and usually ship them back there, whence at best it’s a life on the streets; at worst, a ‘trampoline’ back to where you just escaped from);

5) apply for asylum with the first competent authority you can locate: you are afraid for your life because they want to kill you because you are gay;

6) Get a lawyer.

Then, get out of Uganda while you still can. Live to fight another day. Regimes and political climates change.