We Are Here: LGBTI in Uganda
American-born gay photographer D. David Robinson collected portraits and first-person accounts from lesbian, gay, transgender, and intersex Ugandans, then turned to The Advocate to offer these brave activists a forum to elevate their stories in their own words.
BY Sunnivie Brydum
January 02 2013 4:00 AM ET
http://www.advocate.com/news/world-news/2013/01/02/photos-we-are-here-lgbt-ugandaBut despite potential passage of the Kill The Gays bill and a hostile environment stoked to an ideological inferno by American Evangelicals proselytizing in Eastern Africa, Ugandan LGBTI people have a simple message: We are here. We are Ugandan. We will not be silenced.
American-born photographer D. David Robinson first traveled to Uganda in 2008 and, while living and working in Uganda for the past year, Robinson found himself welcomed into the small but vibrant LGBTI community. Robinson's new friends repeatedly told him their experiences were unheard in media commentary, even within Uganda. Together they decided to document their lives through photos and first-person stories, shared with the world in order to elevate the voices of these oft-silenced people — a brave and dangerous move in a country where coming out could soon get you a death sentence.
"This is a project of intimate storytelling," says Robinson, himself a gay man. "It is not political, even if these individuals are activists and human rights defenders in Uganda. These are personal stories, and obviously just a small window onto each person's experience of discovering their sexual orientation and learning to survive and thrive in the country they love."
