IDAHOT in Uganda 2015

Rainbow International LGBT Activist Solidarity Fund is a UK registered charity committed to empowering and supporting grassroots human rights activists, worldwide, who are working to free the world of all discrimination based on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, and raise public awareness of human rights violations and abuses faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

We are working with  activists in UGANDA to create an International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) event and you can help us achieve this.  IDAHOT events are now held in more than 130 countries across the world May 17th. The event in Uganda is being organised by Kampala-based Youth on Rock Foundation and will bring together LGBTQ people from across Uganda  in a show of solidarity and togetherness, with an emphasis on developing self-sufficiency in the community.

Your support would ensure this event is held safely and is accessible to as many people as possible.

The event will held at a secure location and will celebrate the solidarity and strength of the Ugandan LGBT community which has faced such intense public hostility and incredibly difficult challenges in recent years. The event will highlight the continuing human rights abuses and discrimination faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community in Uganda. After the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014 was signed into law (later annulled), many LGBT people were thrown out of jobs or disowned by their family and left with no source of income to support themselves. Some turned to sex work as a matter of survival. Many continue to face incredible hardship as they fight for their human rights.  

The theme of the Ugandan IDAHOT event will be "Solidarity and Togetherness: Our Identity"

During the event the following activities will take place:

 -Celebrating our identity as one community,  LGBT and sex workers together marching with our red umbrellas and rainbow flags for the first time in the history of Uganda;

-Sensitizing the LGBT community about their rights from different community paralegals and human rights scholars and health service providers;

-Information sharing about the background of various LGBT and sex worker organizations in Uganda and their work;

-Voluntary blood testing and counseling throughout the event from our friendly health service provider, MARPI (Most At Risk Population Initiative)

-Exhibitions and sale of some of Youth on Rock Foundation handcrafted art pieces,  aiming towards organization sustenance and individual dependence;

-Storytelling and sharing about our experience in activism to create a platform for emergence of new young activists;

-Competition in various games such as netball, basket ball, playing cards, ludo, chess, swimming, soccer will be featured at the event and winners in different games will be given prizes;

-Entertainment from our fellow community ‘divas’ and an award ceremony and before the closure of the event.

With your solidarity and kind donation you can help to create this IDAHOT event in Uganda. 

Thank you.

Paul Penny
Chair of Trustees,
Rainbow International LGBT Activist Solidarity Fund
(Registered Charity Number 1159834)