A Stonewall Moment?

I have already commented on the spirit of defiance in the Kuchu community at the moment. I saw more evidence of it yesterday.

I was at one of ‘our’ bars. Fact is, I had not been there in some time. Too much pressure and tension, as a matter of fact. Last week, guys were outed. This week, girls were outed by the Red rug.

Yet the atmosphere was celebratory to say the least. We were there. Gay men. New and old. Kuchus. We were together, and we gathered, and danced, and talked and laughed. We joked about being in the ‘Top 50’ and shared each others moment of pain. A sense of community had been created. We shed off the fear and the pain of the week, the anxiety about jobs and work and relatives and homes. We were out as kuchus with other kuchus. And we enjoyed our company.

We were so focused on making merry that someone commented that we were paying no attention to the show on the stage. We were not. We were celebrating being alive. Facing one of the things that all kuchus dread, and surviving. Yes, not all of us are out of the woods. There are others who could not come. Some are still in hiding.

And there were some ugly moments.

Witch hunting. We are all kuchus, so who spilled the beans to the Red rug? Commendably, little was revealed about the girls. But the guys! We can suspect of course, but with no proof, witch hunting hurts all of us. We are kuchus under siege. We all are kuchus under siege.

As we were leaving, a thought struck me. Was the press conference and aftermath a ‘Stonewall’ moment for Ugandan kuchus? Stonewall was the turning point for the gay rights movement. All over the world, kuchus were oppressed customarily. It was when the police raided the gay hangout Stonewall and they rioted, that is when the gay movement was born. Check out the film ‘Stonewall’.

Unbelievable as it is, oppression occurs with the passive consent of the oppressed. Yet many a time, a point is reached when defiance is sparked. And like a brush fire it is fanned by the anger and emotions of years of oppression. Kuchus in Uganda may have gotten to their Stonewall moment.

We just have to watch and see.

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