Ugandan women acquitted of same-sex activity charges after five months in prison

For five months, Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise shared a small prison cell knowing that there was a possibility they might spend the rest of their lives there. Accused of engaging in same-sex activity, an offence under Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws, the two young women faced a life sentence.

Faith, a 22-year-old musician known as Torrero Bae, and Denise, 21, say they have been left “traumatised” by their arrest and detention, an ordeal that began with a police raid on their single rented room in Arua City, north-west Uganda, in February.

Prosecutors alleged the pair had engaged in homosexual acts after they were reportedly seen kissing in public, but last week the Arua chief magistrate, Conrad Oroya Obol, ordered that proceedings be discontinued and discharged the two women.

“The conditions were not really that good. The prison cell was so tiny, two people could only fit in it, but we had to,” says Denise.

“They brought in others, we all had to be in that small space. The food was unbearable and everything was traumatising.

“When we got arrested, the whole community was willing to beat us. The police were harsh on us without proper reason, to the extent that Wendy was beaten. They just beat her for no reason. She never did anything to threaten the police.

“We had never been there before and, since our case was kind of different, everyone was trying to mock us,” she says.

“To be honest, being in prison has really messed up our lives. We can’t even walk through the streets peacefully, especially when we’re together. Someone is always trying to follow us and find something to use against us. There are people who keep calling to threaten us about this case.

“But after all the trauma in prison, we have at least learned more about the community and we’re trying our best to protect ourselves in case anything happens.”

Uganda’s autocratic president, Yoweri Museveni, signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act in May 2023, amid international and regional outrage. One of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws, it includes life imprisonment for same-sex relationships and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.

Last year, Human Rights Watch reported widespread discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people in the two years after the law was enacted.

“Before this happened, we used to walk freely in the streets, but nowadays it’s difficult for both of us to be together in the same place at the same time, even though we’re still living together under the same roof,” Denise says.

“They were even threatening us that if they ever see us together again, they will take us back to prison.”

For Faith, the ruling means more than the end of a criminal case. “They arrested me because they said I was influencing people in indecent practices of homosexuality,” she says.

“My freedom means a lot to me. It felt like I was being stopped from doing what my heart desires. Being arrested for expressing my feelings as a human being made me feel really bad. I hope we shall not be followed again.”

Although the charges were dropped, rights advocates say the case illustrates how fear of prosecution continues to shape the lives of many LGBTQ+ Ugandans, even when convictions are not secured.

Ugandan activist Hans Senfuma says: “I won’t pretend that felt like justice. It felt like exhaling after holding your breath for months – relief, yes, but relief is not safety. Two young women spent time in custody for the ‘crime’ of a kiss. That is the reality we live inside.

“What kept Wendy and Alesi from a life sentence wasn’t the law protecting them, it was public pressure, media attention and organising. That is not a system working.”

Frank Mugisha, the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug), says the women should never have been arrested in the first place.

“I am so glad they are out. We worked so hard to ensure they are [set] free and this is the outcome we wanted to see, and we welcome it,” he says.

“The withdrawal of these charges is welcome, but it does not erase the harm that has already been caused. This public arrest was a chilling reminder to the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community of how the Anti-Homosexuality Act is being used to intimidate, criminalise and dehumanise LGBTQ Ugandans.”

In April 2024, Uganda’s constitutional court rejected a petition to overturn the bill.

“This must not end with one case. We hope this marks the beginning of the end of all discriminatory prosecutions under the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The law itself must be repealed,” says Mugisha.

The two women remain aware that social stigma and the threat of future legal action have not disappeared. “My family members chased me away from home and told me never to go back. They said I was a disgrace for being in a relationship with a girl. That’s why they didn’t want me back,” says Denise.

“So, we decided to stay together and ever since then a lot of people have been threatening us for no reason. Things are really difficult ever since we got out. We have no work, no business and nowhere to earn an income like before, so we’re just struggling to get by.

“But all in all, we don’t give up on each other because we know what we have both been through together and how far we have come.

“This has really changed me a lot.”