UUA LGBT Uganda Fund

In Uganda, citizens are living in fear everyday because of a growing culture of prejudice and oppression against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) people.

A 2010 front-page article in a Ugandan magazine listed the home addresses and photographs of local LGBT activists and citizens, calling for their hangings. As a result, several known or assumed LGBT people including members of our own faith community have been threatened or even assaulted at their homes. One of the Ugandan gay rights activists, David Kato, was brutally beaten to death Jan. 26, 2011 in his home in Kampala.

In response to Kato's tragic murder, the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Uganda and the Eddoboozi Human Rights Defenders Network issued a statement condemning the murder and calling upon authorities and volunteers to bring those responsible to justice. Read the full statement.

As UUs, we are called to promote human rights and respond to threats to our liberal religious values at home and abroad. In response, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) launched an LGBT Uganda Fund to help the UU Church in Uganda and their partner organizations fight for social justice and equality for LGBT citizens living in Uganda.

Read or watch UUA President Peter Morales's appeal.

Your generosity helps to:

• Provide shelter and support for LGBT citizens and their allies in Uganda, including a youth safe house, a telephone hotline, and other direct services.
   
• Support education and advocacy work around LGBT issues in Uganda.
   
• Help the UU Church in Uganda host public witness events like Standing on the Side of Love Conferences each February.

Your support will demonstrate that our UU neighbors in Uganda are not alone and that we will help fight oppression and fear wherever it exists.

Congregations around the country have chosen to take special collections for this Fund and we are grateful for the generous response that we have received already.

To aid this effort we have created downloadable instructions online about how to return your gifts to the UUA if you decide to take a special collection.

You or your congregation can give to this fund by mailing a check, calling us, or giving a gift of stock.

Downloadable Instructions

• How to Return Gifts to the UUA (PDF)
• Gift Information Form (PDF) (Please return this form to the UUA with your collection.)