“From the frying pan into the fire” — that’s how some LGBT refugees described the experience of fleeing to Kenya to escape from homophobic violence in Uganda. Most LGBT refugees in Kenya experienced something like that, even if it wasn’t as extreme as the vivid old description suggests. Continue reading
Tendo Kalyango, an LGBTIQ Ugandan refugee in Kenya, turned to sex work to make ends meet while awaiting a ruling on his quest for asylum abroad. His earnings help him to stay alive, but also go into the pockets of blackmailers and corrupt police officers. Continue reading
Eighteen Ugandan LGBTI refugees in Kenya have been arrested, abused and sent to the Kakuma refugee camp, where they face the prospect of further abuse by thousands of homophobic refugees who are also confined there, the O-blog-dee LGBTI rights advocacy blog reports. Continue reading
Kenyan police rescued a gay couple from a mob in eastern Kenya, Nairobi-based Standard Media reported last week. Continue reading
After coming to grips with the mix of male and female characteristics that his body developed during adolescence, Prince fell in love with a Ugandan woman, only to run into the harsh opposition of her father and her father’s bodyguards. He was kidnapped, tortured and threatened with death. To save his life, Prince fled to … Continue reading
Ugandan LGBT refugee Salim Kakooza explains how he ended up a sex worker in Kenya. It was a survival mechanism he adopted after fleeing Uganda in early 2015 to escape from men his homophobic father had hired to kill him, he says. Continue reading
Four gay men were the victims of a Valentine’s Day attack in the low-income Kawangware area northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Continue reading
LGBTQ refugees and others have reached the United States in recent days, benefiting from the court-ordered stay on President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order that sought to tighten border controls. Among them was pre-screened Ugandan refugee Simon Kwesigabo, who had been left homeless on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya, after Trump’s executive order canceled … Continue reading
Refugee agencies are moving quickly to transport needy clients to the United States, fearing that federal appellate court judges might slam the door shut in refugees’ faces at any moment. Continue reading
Shunned by his family for acting too girlish, attacked by his neighbors for being gay, Ivan Kimbugwe fled to Kenya, only to face further homophobia there. Now he has a chance to reach safety in the United States. This is his story. Continue reading
