
CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
The shocking murder of Uganda gay rights activist David Kato has heightened the urgency surrounding the case of Brenda Namigadde, a lesbian facing deportation from the United Kingdom to the virulently homophobic African country on Friday.
Namigadde spoke with The Advocate Thursday afternoon from the Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire, where she has been held for two months. In a soft voice, she repeatedly expressed fears that she would be killed if she is forced to return to her native Uganda.
"I'm not feeling well at all, just worried," Namigadde said, noting that anxiety had prevented her from eating for the past two days. "There is no hope. I am so broken."
The 29-year-old is scheduled to board a Friday evening flight from Heathrow Airport to Uganda, where her safety is anything but certain. On Wednesday, Kato, one of many LGBT people who had been outed and threatened with hanging in the country's Rolling Stone newspaper, was beaten to death with a hammer in the village of Mukono, east of the capital city of Kampala.
Namigadde worried she could suffer the same fate.
"It makes me feel very bad," she said. "It's really very scary to go back to Uganda. My life is gone as well. I am in danger. [Kato] is the one who was trying to stand for people."
British officials have thus far refused to grant asylum to Namigadde, saying there is insufficient evidence that she is a lesbian. Her attorney submitted another claim with new evidence this week.
It's unclear whether the frightening implications of Kato's murder will sway British Home Secretary Theresa May to reconsider Namigadde's deportation, though Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, said, "It seems like the changed circumstances [regarding Kato's murder] would provide at least a temporary reprieve from deportation."
"In the past, public scrutiny and public outcry in the U.K. have been somewhat effective and have resulted in temporary reprieves," Bromley said.
"We've been talking with both Brenda and her attorney. She's very upset, very concerned to hear about David Kato's murder as well as her fear of imminent deportation," Banks said. He added that representatives with the home secretary's office told him they had received a deluge of mail in support of Namigadde over the past 24 hours. But Banks has not heard whether Namigadde's deportation is being reconsidered.
Speaking from the detention center, Namigadde dismissed recent reports that David Bahati, the Ugandan parliament member sponsoring a bill to make homosexuality punishable by death in certain instances, had offered to remove the capital punishment language from his legislation. Bahati told the U.K. newspaper The Guardian that Namigadde would be welcome in Uganda if she would "abandon or repent her behavior" and cease bringing international scrutiny on the country. Otherwise, he suggested that she would be punished with arrest or worse.
"I'm not going to repent, because that's who I am," Namigadde said. "David Bahati is going to put a death penalty on me."
Namigadde said that she has no family members or friends in Uganda, where some lesbians she once knew have disappeared or, she surmises, have been killed. She has not spoken to her Canadian partner, Janet, since about 2004, one year after they fled Uganda, where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
"Nowhere to live, nowhere to stay, nowhere to be safe," Namigadde said. "I can't move out from the country. My life is in danger. I'm going to be killed. I can't be going back to Uganda."
If and when the moment of deportation arrives Friday, Namigadde said she would refuse to comply, even if that means she is forcibly removed. It would constitute one last plea to British officials.
"I gave them all the evidence. I provided everything," she said. "They don't believe me."
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
31 Period Films of Lesbians and Bi Women in Love That Will Take You Back
December 09 2024 1:00 PM
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
These 15 major companies caved to the far right and stopped DEI programs
January 24 2025 1:11 PM
True
Melania Trump cashed six-figure check to speak to gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago
August 16 2024 5:57 PM
Latest Stories
HRC, Lambda Legal sue to stop Trump's transgender military ban
February 06 2025 8:50 PM
DOGE staffer resigns over uncovered racist posts
February 06 2025 7:18 PM
​'Heightened Scrutiny' is a somber reminder of why we fight for trans rights
February 06 2025 6:31 PM
NCAA caves and says it will obey Trump order banning trans athletes
February 06 2025 4:54 PM
Vision for long-delayed memorial to Pulse victims finally comes into view
February 06 2025 4:34 PM
Publishers and library sue Idaho over book ban that defines 'homosexuality' as 'harmful to minors'
February 06 2025 12:35 PM
Anti-trans Republican Nancy Mace doubles down on dehumanizing transphobic slur during hearing
February 06 2025 10:27 AM