Global struggles, local consequences: the impact of internationalisation on local LGBT struggles in Uganda

Abstract

Rahul Rao’s book ‘Out of Time: The queer politics of postcoloniality’ (Rao 2020) starkly shows how Ugandan struggles for LGBT equality have taken on international lenses. Perhaps more than any other country in recent times, Uganda has become synonymous with anti-gay rhetoric and persecution and for this reason, different actors including other states (read those from western Europe and the United States of America), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations have all found ways to intervene in trying to reverse this trend. The internationalisation of the struggle has certainly resulted in legal and formal gains for the Ugandan LGBT movement, but at what cost for the average LGBT person in Uganda do these gains come? This article discusses the main concepts highlighted in the book including ‘homonationalism’ and ‘homocapitalism’ in the sense of what they mean for the average Ugandan LGBT person.