At least nine people have been charged under Uganda’s repressive new Anti-Homosexuality Act in its first month, according to a local legal aid organisation.
But both out and closeted LGBTIQ people say the impact is much wider, with the threat of violence and blackmail putting them under intense psychological pressure over fears their identity could be weaponised against them.
“It’s like there’s a camera and you are being watched. Anything can lead you into danger,” Angel*, a closeted queer university student in Kampala, told openDemocracy in an interview this week. She says her hypervigilance has led to anxiety.
