Lesbian Couple Jailed for Five Months in Uganda Over a Public Kiss Speak Out
One of the women said their time in prison was “traumatizing,” adding that the ordeal “has really changed me a lot.”
A queer couple arrested and jailed for five months over Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws are now talking about their ordeal and what comes next for them.
Wendy Faith, who is also known in the music world as Torrero Bae, and Alesi Diana Denise spent those months in a small prison cell. They had been accused of engaging in same-sex activity and faced a lifetime behind bars.
In February, the two were arrested in the room they rented in Arua City, which lies in the country’s northwest, the Guardian reports.
Authorities claim the two had been kissing in public. However, a judge discharged the two last week.
“The conditions were not really that good. The prison cell was so tiny, two people could only fit in it, but we had to,” Denise told the outlet in a recent interview. “They brought in others, we all had to be in that small space. The food was unbearable and everything was traumatising.
She said police had beaten Faith without cause and their whole community was willing to be violent toward them. It’s something Denise said they are acutely aware of now.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
The situation for LGBTQ+ people in Uganda has eroded over the last 10-plus years. The country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws were strengthened in 2023 by the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni.
The new law included life imprisonment for same-sex activity and death for those convicted of so-called “aggravated homosexuality.” Human Rights Watch reports that persecution of LGBTQ+ people in Uganda has surged due to the new law.
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“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 told the Guardian. “They were even threatening us that if they ever see us together again, they will take us back to prison.”
Ugandan rights activists say that just because the charges were dropped doesn’t mean more discrimination will not come.
“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,” activist Hans Senfuma said. “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.”
The two women are now figuring out their lives post-detainment. Denise said that her family had chased her from the family home, saying it was disgraceful for her to be a lesbian.
She told the outlet they still receive threats.
“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,” Denise said. “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.”
She added: “This has really changed me a lot.”
