Unshakable in Uganda: A lesbian activist navigates church and politics
The pastor urged the congregation to sign an antigay petition. Clare Byarugaba knew she wasn't the only gay person there.
Clare Byarugaba was in church on a Sunday in 2009 when her pastor urged his congregation to sign a petition backing antigay legislation being considered in Uganda’s parliament. She surveyed the massive sanctuary of her evangelical megachurch in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. “How many gay people,” she wondered, “are in this place?”
Most of those gathered for worship that day, like an overwhelming majority of Ugandans, agreed with their pastor that homosexuality is sinful and unacceptable—so much so that, as the proposed bill specified, the death penalty should apply in some cases of same-sex activity. But Byarugaba knew that she wasn’t the only LGBTQ person in church.
“It was so, so painful,” she recalls, “because homophobia had found us in church. The people who were supposed to bring you closer to God were calling for your death.” She said a prayer for those unknown others. Then she made a decision: “That was the last time I went to church.”
