Micheal Kabunga, Kampcon 2028 bid coordinator, is on his on his way to the Chengdu Worldcon where Kampcon will have a fan table in booth 40. He shared an updated copy of their bid questionnaire with File 770. Screencaps below, or you can download the PDF file here.
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I am cis-het. Not everyone in my household or friendship groups are. The state homophobia currently being ramped up in Uganda would be a major red flag.
While I love the idea of a Worldcon in Africa, I’m afraid that Uganda is not an option I can support, for basically the same reason as Nickpheas. Specifically, the extremely harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 alone makes the place a completely unacceptable candidate!
Agreed; Uganda is a no-go. Some place not so dangerous for non-cis/non-het people, please.
If Uganda wants to attract international conventions, they’ll have issues because they have a president who claims that the very concept of LGBT did not exist in the entire continent of Africa until it was brought from other continents. What? (That’s not their only issue.)
That claim has, of course, been disproven. In fact, it’s been said that the anti-LGBT laws and sentiments in many former colonies across Africa and Asia originated with the British colonizers.
I agree with everyone else (so far) – it’s good for WorldCon to move about the world, but it could surely find a home in an African nation that doesn’t have an extreme anti-LGBTQIA agenda.
I would love to have a convention in sub-Saharan Africa for all the reasons that Uganda has given, including their rich history of storytelling. I checked flights from San Francisco to Kampala and essentially you fly to Doha, Qatar and then onto Kampala. What an amazing flight!
But that is not my main issue. Just recently somebody was indicted for “aggravated homosexuality” Oh come on, join the 21st Century. I am not a Lesbian but friends and many fans, writers, artists, dealers etc. are in the LGBTQ+ community and could be subject to this law which carries penalties up to the death sentence. The bid sounds wonderful, the country sounds awful.
“Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023” The Act prescribes life imprisonment for sex between two people of the same biological sex and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. The latter offence includes “serial offenders”, same-sex rape, sex in a position of authority or procured by intimidation, sex with persons older than seventy-five, sex with the disabled and mentally ill, and homosexual acts committed by a person with a previous conviction of homosexuality. Further, under its provisions, the promotion (including normalisation) of homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years and fines.
As far as siting WorldCons in countries prone to horrific human rights abuses goes, having it in Uganda is, at worst, only a lateral move from having it where it is currently being held as we speak.
And it might even be an upward move, if only incrementally so, due to whatever abuses may be happening (I say ‘may be’ not because I doubt they are happening but because I am unfamiliar with the nature or extent and would not be accused of hyperbole or the dreaded ‘spreading misinformation.’) being unlikely to be systematized by a nationwide surveillance state.
Every fan on the planet is rooting against your bid, because of your anti LGBTQ laws. You don’t deserve to win, and I hope you lose in a humiliating fashion.
Just lu-ver-ly (would it have helped to add a comma?):
It also seems that What is the distance from the nearest door of your main hotel(s) to the closest entrance of the convention site? What are the transportation options (…)? – The hotel and convention center are one site. means “a couple hundred meters” (while trying to check, note that the map on page 4 has north on the right).
@Anne Marble
The current laws and would0be laws came from US anti-LGBT “missionaries”. The same ones who scream about drag queen story hours and children’s books with characters with non-cis/het characters doing absolutely ordinary things.
P J Evansville says <‘em> The current laws and would0be laws came from US anti-LGBT “missionaries”. The same ones who scream about drag queen story hours and children’s books with characters with non-cis/het characters doing absolutely ordinary things.
There’s nowhere in Africa that I’d say is a good place to hold a Worldcon if we want all of our community to feel safe. Some countries are slightly more tolerant like Kenya but really safe? No.
Once again, we should not conflate the fans behind this bid with the country as a whole. The Ugandan fans are not responsible for Uganda’s terrible LGBTQ+ laws (which as P.J. Evans pointed out, were pushed by US missionaries).
It seems that Worldcon bids have become a way for countries to undertake cultural outreach.
Hunh.
I also question the wisdom of allowing the con to travel to countries with oppressive governments, like that of Uganda. Sooner or later some visiting fans are going to cross lines they don’t even know are there and end up jailed or worse.
Amnesty International on Uganda.
The Ugandan fans may not be responsible for the country’s LGBTQ+ policies, but that doesn’t make it any safer. They cannot make any assurances as to how the LGBTQ+ community would be treated. You can be the nicest person in the world, but it would still be irresponsible to invite friends over to your house when you have poisonous snakes infesting your place of residence.
Mm whilst the idea of a Uganda Worldcon is appealing, the many comments above re their anti gay legislation, is to that bid’s detriment. But there is (and I met them at Worldcon 2014/London) a small no of S/African fen and (I think) still some fan activity there. Now yes SA has its own internal problems but IMO any African bid would be likely to come from there (or perhaps, at a pinch, from Nigeria). But at least let African fandom continue to make bids: indeed, is the Cairo Egypt one still active?
Not that I ever buy a Worldcon membership so I’m not going to vote on this, but — Yes it would be great to have a Worldcon in Africa, and sadly I couldn’t vote for a Uganda bid. Actually, I couldn’t vote for a Florida bid, or a bid in a number of other U.S. states, for that matter.
Looking at Africa, it’s worth noting that South Africa legalized same sex marriage before the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, and other Western nations. And South Africa includes LGBTQ rights in its constitution, which the U.S. does not do.
If we include islands that are geographically part of Africa then the Canary Islands and Reunion are places that have regimes that would be acceptable if they were to host. Whether either has a sufficient fan base to mount a bid is a different question, of course. They would also, of course, have a European rather than African flavour.
This bid is a no from our household.. I would also like to point out that in their diversity efforts, they speak only of anti-racism. Necessary, absolutely, but the fact that LGBTQ+ isn’t even mentioned is a serious issue, especially given that the bid committee describes itself as human-rights activists.
While I would love to see a Worldcon in Africa, Uganda is a no for me at this time. Not until they bring their LGBTQ laws into the 21st Century. While I am not gay myself, I have friends and loved ones who are, and for that reason Uganda would be a no for me.