One of Uganda’s most prominent LGBT+ activists says he has “lost hope” his country’s extreme anti-homosexuality law being repealed – with Donald Trump’s decision to slash US foreign aid funding removing one of the key pressure point on the government.
Steven Kabuye was brutally attacked in 2024, in the wake of the law – which punishes consensual same-sex relationships with penalties up to life in prison – being passed the previous year. He had been receiving regular death threats when, on his way to work in January 2024, he was stabbed twice by two unknown men and left for dead. After the attack he was given asylum in Canada. “I almost lost my life that day,” he explains. “[It] almost cost me my life and I'll continue doing this work until the day the gods decide this is my end”.
