“No One Shakes Me”: Rejected Queer Identities and the Creation of Sacred Ugandan Spaces in Honor of the Orlando Massacre

Abstract

Queer Ugandans operate as identity fugitives, a term to describe the ways gay and lesbian Ugandans cannot share their whole selves in the public domain and sometimes even in policed private spheres. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) organizers have responded by creating refuges for endangered and alienated queer Ugandans. These spaces are sacred because they resist homophobic sites of hostility throughout Uganda. In June of 2016, the Ugandan LGBTQ community commemorated victims of the Orlando massacre in the United States as they meditated on the fragility of queer life globally. The violence at Pulse nightclub in Orlando reinforced the precariousness of these cultivated sacred spaces. The LGBTQ community in Uganda bravely commemorated the victims of the massacre by creating a transnational site of mourning, one that highlighted the dynamism of queer expression even under government sanctioned societal oppression.