Queer Ugandans under attack on dating apps
New report details dangers queer Ugandans face online
Homophobes in Uganda seem to have opened up a new front online for spreading their hate and issuing threats against the LGBTQI+ community, according to a research report titled “From Offline to Cyberspaces: Digital Threats Faced by Sexual and Gender Diverse Individuals in Uganda Post-Anti Homosexuality Act 2023” published last month.
The research conducted by Freedom and Roam Uganda, Icebreakers Uganda, and Tranz Network Uganda, with funding from Voice Global, examined the threats faced by sexual and gender diverse individuals in Uganda, with particular focus on the period from May 2023 when the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) was enacted to August 2024 when the research was commissioned.
The new report reveals that the perpetrators of hate against LGBTQI+ persons, energized by the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) 2023, have now taken to dating apps by creating anonymous accounts pretending to be sexual and gender diverse community members thereby luring unsuspecting victims to meet them and end up being harassed, beaten or tortured.
Victims are also reportedly coerced to pay certain amounts of money or else be outed or exposed to the public.
One of the most disturbing findings of the research is that the blackmailers are often known to their victims and work in collusion with the police to arrest and extort money from them.
“After arranging a meeting online and inviting the person in their home, the perpetrator threatens saying if you don’t want me to call the police or expose you, give me your phone, laptop or they sometimes demand for a certain amount of money” the report quotes one of the respondents.
A similar case was documented by the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) in its monthly report of December 2024 in which an LGBTQI+ person was contacted by a man with whom they started a flirtation, and later agreed to meet. When the two met, the other person came with police officers from Kabalagala Police station, who arrested him. While he was in custody, the police officers went through his phone and found communications with a person whom they suspected to be the first client’s intimate partner, and tricked him into meeting them. They arrested him too and charged them both with homosexuality
In another case, an LGBTQI+ person met a person on a dating app and they later agreed to meet in person, and the client directed him to his home. However, before the physical meeting, the other person started calling the client and demanding for money in exchange for not going to his home and outing him to his village leadership.
Both cases were reported in Kampala area.
Dating apps like Grindr, Tinder, Badoo and Mamba have been instrumental to sexual and gender diverse individuals by providing safe platforms for discreet connections and relationships.
According to the report, this is particularly common among gay men and Trans women who are targeted on platforms like X, Facebook, Tiktok and Whatsapp.
Although digital platforms provide a medium for self-expression, communication and networking, sexual and gender diverse individuals in Uganda are now surrounded, targeted and attacked off and online.
Many have decided to retreat from online spaces by deleting their accounts as a way of harm reduction while others have chosen to keep fighting. They have responded to attacks by implementing coping mechanisms such as blocking features, engaging in digital security training and utilizing more secure online communication channels.
Uganda’s legal and policy landscape for the sexual and gender diverse communities remains harsh. The legislative and public discourse has continued to foster discrimination, supported by a coalition of conservative religious and political leaders.
The enactment of the AHA in particular has further endangered the safety of sexual and gender diverse individuals both online and offline.
This law intensified the attacks especially by political and religious leaders who demonize them and spread misinformation about queer people.
