Uganda Gay Rights Activist Stabbed, Blames Attack on Country’s Anti-LGBTQ Climate

A prominent LGBTQ activist in Uganda was stabbed by unknown assailants Wednesday and is blaming the country’s anti-gay rhetoric and laws for fueling the crime. 

Steven Kabuye was stabbed in his right arm and stomach by two attackers on a motorcycle. The attackers were allegedly aiming for his neck and have not been arrested. 

Kabuye, who is recovering in the hospital on the outskirts of Kampala, the country’s capital, said Thursday he remains afraid of being attacked again. 

“I don’t know who to trust right now,” Kabuye, who is the executive director of the activist group Colored Voice Truth to LGBTQ, said. 

He laid blame for his attack on “politicians who are using the LGBTQ+ community as a scapegoat to move people away from what is really happening in the country."  

Kabuye wrote on X in response to the attack that "Violence is not strength, and compassion is not a weakness.

Uganda has some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world, first put into place under British colonial rule. President Yoweri Museveni signed a law in May that makes “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by death. 

In May, Kabuye said he was "deeply concerned” about the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which he said "sets a dangerous precedent for discrimination and persecution against the LGBTQ+ community."

With The Associated Press.