Ugandan transgender woman Pretty Peter, who fled her home and country in 2019 and wished to be identified by her chosen name out of concern for her safety, poses for a photograph at the safe house where she now lives in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya, June 1, 2023. The transgender woman is relatively safe in neighbouring Kenya. Her friends feel threatened by the latest anti-gay legislation in Uganda prescribing the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality.
"My friends have already seen a change of attitude among their neighbours and are working on obtaining papers and transport money to seek refuge in Kenya," she said. The new law signed by President Yoweri Museveni had been widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad. The version signed did not criminalize those who identify as LGBT+, following an outcry over an earlier draft. Museveni had returned the bill to the national assembly in April asking for changes that would differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ+ and engaging in homosexual acts.
While a legal challenge to the new law is mounted by activists and academics seeking to stop its enforcement, LGBTQ+ people in Uganda have been chilled by the growing anti-gay sentiment there. The top Anglican cleric in Uganda, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba, has publicly said he no longer recognizes the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual leader of the Anglican communion. In a statement issued after the bill was signed, Kaziimba spoke of "the diligent work" of lawmakers and the president in enacting the law.