Alleging to flee persecution in Uganda, LGBT refugee Kwesigabo Simon has been approved for resettlement from Kenya to California, United States.
Kwesigabo has narrated his story to Colin Stewart of Erasing 76 Crimes, a media organisation that focuses on the human toll of 76+ countries’ anti-LGBTI laws and the struggle to repeal them.
The 20-year-old says that he was born in Uganda, in the southern Masaka district in Kalisizo sub-county, to unknown parents who abandoned him as a baby.
He was raised by Mr. Gabunga Mbanji, a farmer who already had five children.
“For my first 17 years, before I moved to Kampala, people didn’t discriminate against me. Then my older sister urged me to join her in the city, which I did in 2013. My sexual orientation started attracting attention; I wasn’t able to hide it from our neighbors. I decided to rent a small room in the Munyonyo suburb.” He said.
Kwesigabo says he later met a partner in Kalisizo but their relationship eventually attracted the attention of neighbors there.
“At first they thought we were brothers, but one day in May 2013 a fierce Christian neighbor stumbled onto us and was embarrassed by our joyous and delightful times.” He said, “He rushed to report us at the Kalisizo police station. On his way back from the station, he called together what seemed like the entire village. They kicked in our door and chased us out the house. The crowd cursed at us and stripped us of our clothing. A police officer beat us and locked us in a cell with a bare floor.”
“The officer warned the other prisoners about our sexuality, which made imprisonment worse. We were each HIV-positive, so the police officers took us to a clinic for a health assessment before facing the court. Fortunately the physician at the clinic was the ex-boyfriend of Denis. He arranged for us to escape, but in the process Denis and I became separated.”
Kwesigabo says that he started looking for a way to escape the homophobia. He boarded a bus to Nairobi on Feb. 16, 2015, and arrived there on Feb. 17 to join Kamarah Apollo, an old friend from Kampala who later helped him to register as a refugee.
It is here that he sought resettlement through to USA.
“At last, 23 months after I fled from Uganda, I have almost reached the peak. I have been approved to be resettled in America.” He told the organisation.
A person who is granted asylum has the immediate legal right to live and work in the United States.
Generally, most asylees choose to apply for an employment authorization document and other forms of state identity documents to prove that they have the legal authorization to live in the United States.
While asylum is a relatively secure immigration status to have in the United States, there are certain limitations and responsibilities which come with the status.
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