Glasgow Human Rights Network

‌Dr. Frank Mugisha (Executive Director, Sexual Minorities Uganda)

Tuesday 16 June, 5.00pm - 7.00pm

Yudowitz seminar room 1 (room 253), Wolfson Medical Building, University of Glasgow.  

• Listen to an audio recording of this event

An account of the event and Dr. Mugisha's award of Doctor of the University, with pictures, has been published on the Glasgow Sociology blog: 'Dr Frank Mugisha of Sexual Minorities Uganda event recording published after honouring as Doctor of the University'. 

Pictures and details of Dr. Frank Mugisha's award of Doctor of the University are available from Commemoration day.   

The oration for Dr. Mugisha on becoming Doctor of the University, by Professor Deirdre Heddon, Dean of the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities, can be read in the Commemoration day brochure.    

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Presentation followed by conversation with Dr. Matthew Waites, Q&A and discussion, followed by wine reception.

If you would like to attend, please register on the Eventbrite site.

Travel information and campus maps can be found here: Maps and Travel. The Wolfson Medical Building is on University Avenue.  

Please help publicise the event; there is a Facebook site ; Twitter updates @MatthewWaites @GlasgowHumRts , event hashtag #LGBTIUgandaGlasgow .

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All are welcome at this event

On 17 June Dr Frank Mugisha, Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate (2011), will be awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv) at the University of Glasgow, on Commemoration Day.   This award follows Dr. Mugisha’s address as Keynote Speaker at the LGBTI Human Rights in the Commonwealth conference held at the University on Nelson Mandela Day 18 July 2014, as a partnership between Glasgow Human Rights Network, Equality Network, Kaleidoscope Trust and Pride Glasgow (videos of the event including Dr. Mugisha’s address are available from the conference website).

On 16 June the Glasgow Human Rights Network, in partnership with the Gender and Sexualities Forum, is hosting a special event for Dr. Mugisha to speak on ‘The Present Situation for LGBTI People in Uganda’.  The event will be chaired by Dr. Matthew Waites, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and co-editor (with Corinne Lennox) of Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change (School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2013; free online at: http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/publications/house-publications/lgbt-rights-commonwealth). 

The event will take place in three parts.  First, Dr. Mugisha will make a presentation on the present situation in Uganda and international responses.  Second, Dr. Mugisha will engage in conversation with Dr. Waites on several questions, particularly on how the LGBTI movement struggles in Uganda relate to UK and transnational politics and LGBTI activism.  Thirdly there will be substantial time for questions and open discussion involving everyone attending; it is intended that this final section will be informal and an open forum, including for activists/NGOs to discuss current developments and collaborative strategies and support. 

Scott Cuthbertson, Development Coordinator of Equality Network will comment on Equality Network's international work. 

Please share information about this event widely to all relevant networks for human rights, LGBTI and social justice issues.

The venue is accessible. 

Advance registration is essential via the link above, please print and bring your ticket. 

Anyone attending with particular access or other requirements, questions or comments, please contact Matthew Waites.    

                   
Background and reading:

'Unnatural offences' concerning 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' have been prohibited by legal statutes in Uganda since their creation by the British Empire in 1902.   In 2009 the 'Anti-Homosexuality Bill' was introduced into the Uganda parliament, initially proposing the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality' and known as the 'Kill the Gays' bill. A later revised version removed the death penalty. On 24 February 2014, after the bill's passage through parliament, President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law.  However on 1 August 2014 the Constitutional Court in Uganda ruled the Act invalid due to parliament not being quorate when passed. A further bill called The Prohibition of Promotion of Unnatural Sexual Practices Bill was drafted in 2014.         

A history of the Uganda LGBTI movement's struggle and legal issues is provided by Adrian Jjuuko 'The incremental approach: Uganda's struggle for the decriminalisation of homosexuality', Chapter 14 in Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waites eds. (2013) Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change (London: School of Advanced Study).  Free online.   

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First published: 5 May 2015