Donors raise $5,000 for victim of anti-gay attack in Uganda

Ugandan LGBTQ+ rights activist Steven Kabuye was stabbed on Jan. 3

Supporters have donated more than $5,000 to help Ugandan LGBTQ+ rights activist Steven Kabuye, who was hospitalized in critical condition after he was repeatedly stabbed by anti-gay attackers on Jan. 3.

Kabuye wrote:

Greetings dear comrades and fellow activists in the struggle for ensuring equity across human rights regardless of anyone’s gender or sexual orientation…

Human rights are not a war zone, and therefore people who champion them should not continue losing their lives simply because of a fundamental human responsibility!

I almost lost my life for the cause of humanity and ensuring that all Ugandan LGBT are freed from the most deadly and dangerous anti-homosexuality law in Uganda, #AHA.

I thank God that I am still alive even after the severe attack. And I believe this too shall pass.

However, I am in great need of financial support for several reasons that I can’t list over here and I believe that you will find a place in your heart to contribute generously towards this noble campaign and fundraiser…

May the good Lord bless you all abundantly as you come through for me financially.

Pink News reported on the attack:

Steven Kabuye, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights activist in Uganda, was attacked on Jan 3 by two men who had allegedly been following him for a number of days, sources close to Kabuye claimed on social media.

Graphic video footage shared on Kabuye’s X/Twitter account shows him lying in pain on the floor, his arm sliced open and a knife embedded in his stomach, as well as him on a blood-soaked hospital bed following emergency surgery.

Kabuye’s organisation, Coloured Voices Media Foundation-Truth to LGBTQ Uganda, wrote that he was “stabbed to near death by unknown assailants a few meters from our home as he was heading for work this morning”.

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Frank Mugisha, one of the best-known LGBTQ+ activists in Uganda and the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said on social media: “Haterade and hate crimes have no place in Uganda.”

Speaking to Reuters, Mugisha cited Uganda’s anti-gay law for inciting the violence.

“The deep hate for sexual minorities that the law unleashed created an atmosphere in which such attacks are happening,” he claimed.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act, signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May, severely restricts LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda.

It imposes the death penalty for “aggravated” same-sex acts, which includes sexual activity with disabled people and those who are HIV positive.

The Guardian reported:

Kabuye “told investigators who visited his bedside that he had been receiving death threats since March 2023. He had returned to Uganda in December for Christmas after travelling abroad in June.”