Ugandan LGBTQIA+ activist Steven Kabuye, who survived an attempted murder in January 2024, was honored with the 2024 Troy Perry Medal of Pride, an award of Los Angeles- based nonprofit Rainbow Advocacy. The award was presented in Vancouver, Canada by US and Canadian-based nonprofit Rainbow Railroad, which successfully relocated Kabuye in the months following the near fatal attack.
Launched in 2016, the Troy Perry Legacy Awards program is created in honor of one of the founding fathers of the Pride movement, Rev. Troy D. Perry. The Troy Perry Legacy Awards recognizes visionary LGBTQIA+ young people, community leaders & Pride organizations making an impact through social & spiritual activism.
Steven was stabbed by unknown assailants on his way to work just outside Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, with the homophobia fueled violent knife attack leaving him near death and in critical condition, requiring emergency medical treatment in Uganda and Kenya, with further surgery and treatment continuing in Canada.
“I’m deeply honored and humbled to carry forward the legacy of Rev. Troy Perry’s historic resilience,” Steven stated. “ This is a symbol of valor, strength and heroism. And as a Ugandan, whose rights are undermined and intimidated, I continue to speak up and demand my own rights and those of every LGBTQIA+ African suffering under ever expanding homophobia imported into our cultures starting with colonization and continuing through religious extremism.”
As co-founder and executive director of the Uganda-based nonprofit Coloured Voices Media Foundation – Truth To LGBTQ Uganda, Steven has been an outspoken critic of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA23) that was signed into law in May 2023 by President Museveni. AHA23, with punishments including life imprisonment and the death penalty, has been condemned by human rights activists globally.
Continuing his advocacy for LGBTQIA+ Ugandans from Canada, Steven is passionate in defending the lives of countless people whose very existence is now at risk. “Our freedom and our rights cannot wait. The government’s anti-gay campaign has capitalized on using media,” he stated.
“Coloured Voices has decided to give them a taste of their own medicine by using the media to undo the smear campaign and refute the lies about being homosexual." said Steven. "Through this campaign, we’re rallying a strong digital army of passionate allies and activists to counter the anti-gay propaganda. We refuse to be silenced. We are standing our ground and demanding our human rights, just like any other Ugandan.”
Coloured Voices Media Foundations - Truth to LGBTQ Uganda is a youth-led organization that advocates for and promotes the human rights, health and socio-economic well-being of LGBTQIA+ youth in Uganda and across the African continent. http://colouredvoices.org
Rainbow Advocacy is a Los Angeles-based 501(c) nonprofit founded in 1996, dedicated to advancing the LGBTQIA+ Pride movement through the Troy Perry Legacy Awards and Grants, the OUR PRIDE Arts & Advocacy programs, and other collaborative projects with organizations and partners around the world.
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