The Paradox of the Contested Terrain of Sexual Plurality: Navigating Visibility and Invisibility in 21st Century Uganda

This research investigates the nuanced navigational strategies employed by Ugandan sexual and gender minorities to ensure their safety and survival following the enactment of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Moving beyond a victimhood framework, the study aims to document and theorize how these communities strategically leverage and subvert visibility across digital, physical, and organizational terrains, arguing that their practices constitute a sophisticated, agentive, and embodied East African feminist epistemology of survival. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather rich, nuanced data. Twelve participants completed semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 and 120 min (average 75 min). The sample included 7 cisgender gay men, 3 cisgender lesbian women, 1 transgender woman, and 1 non-binary participant, aged 20–44 (average 32 years). Given the criminalized and clandestine nature of the population, a snowball sampling technique was essential for recruitment. Interviews were conducted via encrypted Signal voice calls to ensure participant safety. Interview questions explored three domains: digital platform use and safety practices; physical mobility and spatial mapping; and coping strategies, support networks, and psychological well-being. The study adhered to rigorous ethical protocols, including institutional anonymization and the use of pseudonyms, to protect participant safety and mitigate risks of exposure or legal prosecution under the repressive law. The findings reveal a complex repertoire of tactics for managing the central paradox of visibility and invisibility. Participants demonstrated a hierarchical use of digital platforms, from encrypted “sanctuaries of the self” (e.g., Signal) to public “semiotic battlefields” (e.g., Instagram) for coded signalling. In physical space, they employed a collectively generated “geographic literacy” to mentally map the city into zones of safety and danger, requiring constant disidentificatory performance. This relentless navigation exacts a profound psychological toll, reframed as a “politics of depression,” a rational response to structural oppression. Yet, within this exhaustion, profound resilience is forged through “affective solidarity” and “moments of stolen authenticity” in clandestine communities. The study concludes that the daily practices of Ugandan sexual and gender minorities far exceed simple evasion; they represent a form of tactical world-making and a powerful assertion of agency within overwhelming constraint. This challenges liberal queer narratives that prioritize “coming out” and instead affirms a “right to opacity” and the creation of intimate publics. Ultimately, while recognizing this profound resilience, the research underscores the imperative to dismantle the oppressive structures that necessitate such exhaustive navigational labour in the first place.