Setting up #LGBT help in crisis #uganda

For any LGBT person there is a long history of acceptance and persecution, but it has always been clear to me that the persecution of LGBT's comes at a moment that power tensions increase. I feel that with the current Ugandan LGBT crisis involving prosecution and incarceration of LGBT, and even alleged LGBT people - actions must be set up that help those at immediate risk.

Does stopping international (read western) aid work?
There is talk of governments stopping aid sent to Uganda, but within the current debate that the West is behind gay propaganda, stopping Western aid to Uganda will probably only fuel the debate and it will be easy for president Museveni to grab this fact as proof for what he has been saying all along. I agree with Rosebell Kagumire that one of the best things to happen to a dictator is putting his people in even more dire straights, because hardship promotes violence and radicalization. So for me, in a first step one should be supportive of LGBT and the whole population of Uganda. While find targeted actions. I wish it could be as simple as: if you have a LGBT teacher in your community it doubles your amount of financial support.

Brainstorming on solutions for LGBT inside Uganda
At this very point in time, the first focus in my opinion should be on supporting and helping LGBT people inside Uganda. Helplines need to be set up (a parallel with the Underground Railroad comes to mind: setting up safe houses and safe routes to get out of the country).  An option would be for consulates to open their doors (if they are not doing so already), or any international organizations to be obvious safe houses.

Violence needs to be made visible in order to stop it
Without proof that violence occurs it is all to easy not to take action. One option is to use mobile phones, as phones are most of the time personal and private. An option for indicating where LGBT violence is taking place can be found in 'Bashing'  (currently an EU app, but maybe easily adaptable to Uganda settings) an application described in multiple articles which is a smartphone app that allows you to map where violence has taken place.
Another option is to make use of a wider mobile application to indicate where violence is taking place using the wide media offerings of Ushahidi , this software crowdsourcing tool also works with basic cell phones to indicate where something is happening.

I am sure there might be more coming from people confronted with actual violence in their regions, and having set up solutions. Any thoughts or ideas welcomed.

Challenges that need to be tackled:
Making sure that these helplines are not infiltrated with malignant intentions, meaning, that those helplines that are set up are REALLY coming from positive LGBT people and not those portraying as LGBT to actually trap them. So how can this be done? Consulates and international organizations are easy, but internal Ugandan helplines might have to find solutions for this problem. Maybe set up a quick iteration that people must go through before trust is given?  
Any action taken will result in people leaving behind their families, homes, society and that is simply devastating to all.

Last remark: sure happy that big data is not commonly available yet. What if data would now be openly available? Anyone having indicated that they are gay in any form or document will easily be traceable with big data access. 

My sexuality and lying by omission

As a lesbian, where do I stand in the midst of a - hopefully only seamingly - increase of gay debate? Do I take action to build LGBT helfpful projects, apps, safe havens? Well no not at the moment.

Although I self-proclaim myself as a Feminist in the first place and a lesbian in second, I do admit that the last few years I have made myself guilty of 'lying by omission' on the latter. While being openly gay since an early age, and active up to a point where my mom told me "all I find when Googling you are gay activist links, why must you be so gay?" and me answering her "because I am, both in spirit and in body" (wise guy/gay I guess). But with the onset of a new job, I put my gayness on second, third, fourth plain and I focused on elearning, mobile learning... not really taking along an activist, lesbian persona on my path to educational knowledge and position. At first it came natural: absorbing elearning projects is just that, but than I knew and felt I was omitting my sexuality at times, especially when visiting countries where gay rights equal gay imprisonment. And after my diabetes diagnosis, I even got quite scared and I became guilty of not mentioning it consciously. Scared because I realized that my body no longer was autonomous, as it became insulin dependent. So even under the 'best' of prison conditions I felt I would be at risk, and imprisonment can sometimes come simply because I love my partner which seems so normal and non-threatening to anyone else.

What does this evolution tell me? That I am not as courageous as I would dream myself to be, or that with age I got more scared (who's to tell). My partner Ciska Imschoot is much stronger, she keeps on trotting, writing columns on life in the UK with our son, sharing activist LGBT links for all. I admire her for that (and so much more). She is my moral beacon more than once and on more subjects as well. This morning she told me she shared the coming out speech of Ellen Page (actress, Juno and more). It is such a simple act coming out, yet still making a difference for those unsure whether there are 'others out there'. And indeed the world is filled with gays, lesbians, queers no matter which region or time.
I feel like such a coward, and yet I once was (and I still am) an active queer, but apparently now no longer as proud as I used to be. Even under what can only be described as 'a small amount of pressure' my queerness has shrunk.
So what about all those brave women, men and others out there that keep on standing, even amid the darkest of times? Being a lesbian is nothing new to humanity. It has always been there, and at times permitted or scorned, but always being part of the world. In the best of times there was a role in society for two-spirit people, dual-sex depiction, same-sex tales and those stories can be found in most ancient and contemporary societies. It is just one of the many varieties of humanity, and it is so completely non-threatening to anyone as it bears on the person and builds on something as simple as love, that it is hard to imagine it could be a point of debate or exclusion. So, when looking at Ellen Page her coming out, it dawned on me (again) that I was just too silent. So as a Valentine's pledge I plan to focus on elearning projects related to LBGT from now on.