Dual Shadows:
East Aftrica’s LGBT Refugees

Dual Shadows explores the lives of LGBTQ refugees in East Africa, from their countries of origin, to purgatory in Kenya, to lives as resettled refugees in America.

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Cynthia is a lesbian activist and refugee from Burundi. She fled her country after authorities found out she was gay. They beat her and cut her with machetes. Here, she lays in bed with her Kenyan girlfriend in the apartment the two shared in Nairobi, Kenya. Cynthia has since been resettled in the United States.
The dance floor at Gypsies, a bar in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday night. Though the city lacks any official gay bars, Gypsies is perhaps the best known unofficial gay bar and caters to expats and Kenyans alike. It is the rare place in Kenya where the LGBT community feels some sense of freedom to be themselves.
A lesbian refugee from Uganda poses for a portrait in one of the LGBT compounds in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya's inhospitable northwest.
A lesbian refugee from Uganda lives in a protected compound in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya with dozens of other LGBT refugees. A few of the women in the compound have children, and here, all six kids stand in one of mud-hut homes the refugees share.
Soon after arriving in Kenya, S. was attacked by seven men with machetes. Here, he poses for a portrait in the apartment he shared with his boyfriend, with one scar from the attack clearly visible. Others on his face and chest are not seen. He and his boyfriend have since been resettled in the United States.
A couple, both LGBT refugees from Uganda, pose for a portrait outside the home they lived in in a town just outside of Nairobi, Kenya.
A gay, HIV+ refugee from Uganda stands outside the house he shared with dozens of other LGBT refugees from Uganda just outside of Nairobi. As a refugee, he received a small stipend each month from the NGO Hias, but said it was hard to make ends meet and he often lacked sufficient food for his anti-retrovirals. He has since been resettled in Europe.
The bed a gay refugee shares with three straight friends. He moved in to this apartment after he was attacked and chased out of the previous apartment he lived in by his landlord and a gang of thugs. His bedmates don't know he is gay and he lives in constant fear of being discovered.
A text message a gay refugee from Uganda received from an unknown number soon after he arrived in Kenya. The sender threatened to kill him that same day, and so he went into hiding. Because he was unsure who sent the message, he lived in constant fear. He has since been resettled in the United States.
A gay refugee from Uganda outside of the apartment building he lived in with around a dozen other LGBT refugees. They say they feel secure, even though they are unsure whether their neighbors know they are gay. He has since been resettled in the United States.

Jake Naughton

Jake Naughton is a visual journalist working on stories about issues of identity. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times…

Topics
LGBTQ
Sub Topics
Persecution Prejudice Refugee
Regions
Africa Kenya Uganda
Prejudice

About Dual Shadows: East Aftrica’s LGBT Refugees

Dual Shadows explores the lives of LGBTQ refugees in East Africa, from their countries of origin, to purgatory in Kenya, to lives as resettled refugees in America.

Uganda is infamous for its anti-gay legislation, but LGBTQ people across the region are beaten, persecuted and killed by officials, neighbors and sometimes their own families.

For many LGBTQ people, the only choice is to flee to Kenya, where, despite the country’s liberal reputation, options are bleak: Nairobi, where rents are high, refugees are forbidden from working and life is unsafe, or Kakuma, a sprawling and inhospitable refugee camp that is a far cry from the urban middle-class life many of the LGBTQ refugees are used to. After months or years of limbo, most are resettled in the West. Safety concerns may fade away, but resettled refugees are strangers in a strange land, and the adjustment presents a new set of challenges.