#Stella Nyanzi

[yourdailyqueer]

Stella Nyanzi

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: 16 June 1974

Ethnicity: Ugandan

Occupation: Activist, poet, writer, medical anthropologist, scholar

Note: One of the first scholars to publish research on African homosexuality. International press has called her "one of Africa's most prominent gender rights activists," "a leading scholar in the emerging field of African queer studies," and a leader in the fight against "repressive anti-queer laws" and for "freedom of speech."

[natandacat]

“Claiming homosexual tags and forging local queer nomenclature

Analysis of the demographic profiles of 320 individuals reveals multiple labels for same-sex-loving people in the local Ugandan context. Because many urban-based interviews were conducted in the English language, several individuals distinctly identified as homosexual: ‘I am a homo’ was a common response to the open-ended questions ‘How do you identify sexually?’ and ‘What is your sexual identity?’ Contrary to arguments in the literature that the label ‘homosexual’ is loaded with historical baggage, Westernised, stigmatised, disparaged and shunned by same-sex-loving individuals living outside Europe and America, many research participants reclaimed and appropriated it for themselves. Conversations or speeches predominantly in the Luganda language were interspersed with this English label or, indeed, its shortened form. I commonly encountered the expression ‘Nze ndi homo!’ – meaning ‘I am a homo!’ During gatherings, spokespersons variously stated: ‘Ffe ba homo...’ – meaning ‘For us, homosexuals...’. It was a solidarity- enforcing label appropriated by insiders when in homo-friendly company or safe spaces.

‘Lesbian’ and ‘gay’ were also common labels of individuals’ sexual identity. ‘Bisexual identity’ was less common, although bisexual practise was often reported, even when referring to oneself (see also Oloka-Onyango 2012, 28). There were localised variants to being either lesbian or gay. These included ‘straight lesbian’, ‘lesbian man’, ‘gay lesbian’, ‘gay heterosexual’, ‘gay man’, ‘top’ for the insertive partner during sex, ‘bottom’ for the recipient partner during sex, ‘chapati’ – or ‘versatile’ for one who played both insertive and recipient roles during sex, ‘gay homo’, ‘trans f-to-m’ for individuals born female but expressed a masculine gender, ‘trans m-to-f’ for those born male but expressing feminine gender, ‘ bi-lesbian’, ‘heterosexual with gay feelings’, ‘accidental heterosexual’, ‘gay but want to have children’, ‘transgender man’ and ‘dyke’. Gender expression sometimes featured as an integral component of individual sexual identities (see also Nagadya and Morgan 2005; Nannyonga-Tamusuza 2009, 366– 368).

A localised label – kuchu – is colloquially employed to refer to same-sex-loving individuals. It is an identity label employed by political advocates for sexual minority rights. Largely an urban label, kuchu is centralised to Kampala city and its immediate environs. Kuchu belongs to the nomenclature of the local sexual minority rights movement, with public discourse embracing it. For example, one refers to kuchu-friendly programmes, kuchu-safe spaces, kuchu-bars, kuchu-businesses or kuchu-subcultures (e.g. Tamale 2007a, 20). Support organisations appropriated the label, such as the first HIV/AIDS-support organisation for sexual minorities called Kuchus Living with HIV/AIDS (KULHAS) and a youth organisation called Kuchu Love Uganda (KLUG). Popular culture productions employ the label, such as documentaries about early struggles of the Ugandan sexual minority rights movement entitled ‘Kuchus of Uganda’ and ‘Call me Kuchu’. Oloka-Onyango (2012) explains that kuchu ‘ ... as a political statement represents the attempt by the LGBTI [lesbian gay bisexual transgender and intersex] community to assert its own handprint on how it wants to be viewed and characterized’. Similarly for the label hungochani, Epprecht (2004, 2) explains that the evident African-ness of the word validates the integrity of black Africans who come out as homosexual. However, despite its wide circulation as the preferred label for sexual minorities in Uganda, I also encountered same-sex-loving individuals who strongly disassociated from the label kuchu because it was highly politicised, connotated militant activism or radical ‘in-your-face’ advocacy for sexual minority right […]

Objections to the popular colloquial label also focused on its overly sexual innuendo and the conquest imbued in localised meanings of kuchu. However, only a few participants objected to being referred to as kuchu. Generally, most research participants preferred kuchu to the alternative Luganda expression abali b’ebisiyazi or abasiyazi (literally meaning ‘eaters of rubbish’), which was blatantly derogatory and restricted to connoting anal sex/sodomy. Nannyonga-Tamusuza (2005, 215) analyses the etymological evolution of okulya ebisiyaga (meaning ‘to eat rubbish’) – the derivative verb that derogatorily refers to homosexuality. A less known colloquial label common among homosexual inhabitants of peri-urban slums in Kampala was abaana b’omu Ndeeba (meaning ‘children from Ndeeba’).”

- Stella Nyanzi (2013) “Dismantling reified African culture through localised homosexualities” in Uganda, Culture, Health & Sexuality, 15:8, 952-967

(emphasis my own)

[angelpearacolyte-willowheart]

Stella Nyanzi is a badass. I wanna know more about her.

[tomorrowusa]

Uganda seems like it is eager to become the Iran or Russia of Africa. You can now get the death penalty for having gay sex in the country.

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has signed into law the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts.

The move immediately drew condemnation from many Ugandans as well as widespread international outrage. The UK government said it was appalled by the “deeply discriminatory” bill, which it said will “damage Uganda’s international reputation”.

US President Joe Biden decried the act as “shameful” and “tragic violation of universal human rights”. He said Washington was considering “sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses” – a suggestion that Ugandan officials may face repercussions.

Early on Monday, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Anita Annet Among, released a statement on social media confirming Museveni had assented to the law first passed by MPs in March. It imposes the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain same-sex acts, up to 20 years in prison for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”, and anyone convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” faces a 14-year sentence.

Described by the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, as “shocking and discriminatory”, the bill was passed by all but two of 389 MPs on 21 March. Museveni had 30 days to either sign the legislation into law, return it to parliament for revisions or veto it. He sent it back to MPs in April, with a request for reconsideration. The bill would have still become law without the president’s assent if he returned it a second time.

Museveni has been in power for 37 years. Africa really needs to get serious about term limits for heads of government.

There has been strong condemnation of Museveni. A statement from the UN read: “We are appalled that the draconian and discriminatory anti-gay bill is now law. It is a recipe for systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people and the wider population. It conflicts with the constitution and international treaties and requires urgent judicial review.”

Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz, Africa deputy director for Human Rights Watch, said: “Museveni’s signing of the anti-homosexuality bill is a serious blow to the right to freedom of expression and association in Uganda, where instead of being restricted they ought to be strengthened.

“The law is discriminatory and is a step in the wrong direction for the protection of human rights for all people in the region.”

Not to minimize any guilt from Museveni's kleptocratic régime, but American far right religious extremists have been trying to do abroad what they haven't managed in the United States. They found fertile ground in Uganda.

U.S. Christian groups spent $280m fighting LGBT+ rights, abortion overseas

Globalizing Hatred

Why is homophobia so strong in Uganda?

From the DW article...

Many of the American evangelists who came to Uganda in the 1990s still live there, says Stella Nyanzi, adding that they poison the discourse: "We have a number of churches where the senior pastor is an American. Pastor Martin Ssempa, one of the most vocal homophobes and one of the biggest mobilizers of the anti-gay movement is married to an American." Priests like Ssempa spread a lot of misinformation in society, she says.

[ ... ]

Church missionaries brought Christianity to the country during British colonial rule, which officially ended in 1962.

The condemnation of homosexuality as "un-African" is pursued with zeal on the African continent, especially in conservative Christian circles — although Christianity is, from a historic point of view, a Western import, too. "While Africans argued that homosexuality was a Western import, they in turn used a Western religion as the basis for their argument," Nigerian LGBTQ activist Bisi Alimi wrote in 2015 in Britain's The Guardian, adding that many people justify their homophobic views by saying that homosexuality is not in the Bible. There is a "real confusion about Africa's past," Alimi concludes.

Because our species originated in Africa, homosexuality existed in Africa before it did anywhere else. So are Museveni, Ssempa, and the other Ugandan hatemongers implying that they come from a different planet?

President Biden condemned the latest Ugandan hate law.

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act

Trump or DeSantis probably would have awarded Museveni a medal.

[mytrashpoems]

It is my fault

No roses fall

From my mouth

To your ears

We’re running out

Of time frankly

I don’t give a damn

Who is offended

By my bald reflections

We need change

dismantle the police

dismantle the dream

and sow freedom

that sounds like

Sunflowers in winter rising

Triumphantly Charioted in on Olympian

Choirs of resplendent blue everything

Falling on bursting

cheeks at the ready

to spray joy cheer and pain

Into the atmosphere

Beyond the clouds

Beyond the stars

Beyond limits man-made

Restrictions on who is

Made-man lies on

whiteness determines absolute nothingness

But hooded sin

and atomic avarice

To continue this way

Mutated on radiated

Dreams no longer deferred

No more

No more

No more

[accuratepicuresofanthropologists]

Anthropologist and activist Stella Nyanzi "used a graphic description of [Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni]’s president’s and his late mother’s vagina to critique his administration.” And was sentenced to 18 months in prison for “cyberbullying” as a result. Anthropology News says that Nyanzi’s case raises “complex questions about language and women’s bodies that reveal the connections between patriarchy, misogyny and state censorship.”

[jamesmurualiterary]

Stella Nyanzi tour of Kenya starts September 13.

Stella Nyanzi tour of Kenya starts September 13.

Ugandan academic, activist, and poet Stella Nyanzi will have a book tour around the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu from September 13 – 21, 2022. Stella Nyanzi is a medical anthropologist who has published widely in academia on topics at the intersections of culture, health, law, gender, and sexualities. She is an ardent writer on social media where she comments on and debates…

[globalnewsafrica]

"I will strip naked if Raila loses presidency" Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi

“I will strip naked if Raila loses presidency” Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi

Exiled Ugandan Human Rights activist, Stella Nyanzi has threatened to remain naked if Raila loses to William Ruto in the August 9th Presidential poll. Nyanzi who declared her support for Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga, stated that she would remain naked in protest of he fails to clinch the presidency. “Tell me, my people in Kenya, is it good news for me who is supporting Baba Raila…

[touchrwanda]

Dr. Stella Nyanzi wari wariyemeje kuzahangana n'ubutegetsi bwa Museveni yahunze

Dr. Stella Nyanzi wari wariyemeje kuzahangana n’ubutegetsi bwa Museveni yahunze

Umunyapolitiki wo muri Uganda, Dr. Stella Nyanzi udasiba kujyanwa muri kasho bitewe n’imvururu ateza,  wanavuze ko yiyemeje guhangana n’ubutegetsi bwa Perezida Yoweri Museveni yita ‘ubw’igitugu’ yahungiye muri Kenya. Ni amakuru umunyamategeko we, Prof. George Luchiri Wajackoyah yahamirije itangazamakuru ryo muri Uganda, aho yavuze ko impamvu yatumye Dr. Nyanzi ahunga, ari “ubwicanyi Leta ya…

[mubahood360]

Stella Nyanzi: I got my illness from Luzira prison (VIDEO)

Former Makerere University researcher Dr Stella Nyanzi has opened up about the mystery surrounding her health condition.

Earlier this week, social media was awash with several sensational reports which suggested that Nyanzi was poisoned and had been rushed to Mengo hospital in a critical condition.

Speaking from her sick bed in Mengo however, Nyanzi ruled out poison saying that her current…

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Oh, someone is competing with Harriet Tubman for my heart, and I can't take it!

Dr Stella Nyanzi is known as the rudest woman in Uganda, and was in prison for 18 months for her vile poems about President Yoweri.

I love her.

Women, BE RUDE!

BE RUDE AS FUCK.

No more politely talking to bigots.

TELL MEN THAT YOU WISH THEIR MOTHER'S VAGINA SQUEEZED THEM TO DEATH!

-fae

[orchres]

Good evening to women 5'9 and above, Men with small feet, people with afros 12" or more, bisexuals with a boot collection, people who cry in the shower like they're in a emo music video, the limp wristed, masc people running aesthetics blogs with a lot of earth tones on tumblr, people who know how to do the shuffle, quiet drunks, Stella Nyanzi, rotary phones, the eyelash in your eye, celebrity pets, Komodo dragons, and people who only smile with their eyes

[ugandanz]

Stella Nyanzi writes up another Poem calling out President Museveni

Poet and mother of two, Dr. Stella Nyanzi has never been a fan of the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.

She has always been vocal and active in the criticism of the government which she termed as oppressive, barbaric and not masses friendly.

She was thrown into prison sometime in 2018 on charges that human rights termed frivolous.

She has already served her jail time and returned…

[76crimes]

Chaos, gunshots after Uganda court releases Stella Nyanzi

Chaos, gunshots after Uganda court releases Stella Nyanzi

Ugandan LGBTQ ally Stella Nyanzi was ordered freed today after she had served 15 months in prison for insulting Uganda’s strongman President Yoweri Museveni and his family.

(more…)

[ntemid]

#FreeStellaNyanzi

For a number of days now

I think so much of ways to write about you

Send you flowers

Just like somebody that looks up to you just like me said

I have failed

“Putting you” in words is an entire mountain to carry on my shoulders

You are that special

See….that is a box you can’t even fit in, no matter how much they try to squeeze, fold or punch you in!

The other day,

I was debating on whether to…