Gay rights Uganda
A person holds an umbrella bearing the colours of the rainbow flag as others wave flags during the the first gay pride rally since the overturning of a tough anti-homosexuality law in August 2013. However, the Ugandan parliament is trying to pass another anti-gay bill. Getty Images

The Ugandan gay community is fighting homophobia and prejudice with a new magazine published and distributed privately.

Bombastic, which aims to "speak for the many voiceless", features articles and poems by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, some of whom write under pseudonyms, AFP reported.

Gay woman and activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera came up with the idea of Bombastic in 2013, as Ugandan parliamentarians tried to introduce an anti-gay bill that would further tighten the crackdown on homosexuality, already illegal in the country and punishable with 14 years in jail.

A total of 15,000 copies of Bombastic have so far been printed and distributed by volunteers to Ugandan citizens and members of the government.

"People are willing to be part of the project," said Nabagesera, adding that she has not yet heard any feedback from the government.

Uganda's anti-gay bill

The anti-gay bill was first put forward in 2009 by MP David Bahati. It originally proposed a death sentence for homosexuals.

The proposed legislation, which was later amended, condemned gay Ugandans to life imprisonment, was dropped two years later, after the murder of David Kato sparked international outcry.

It was only in August 2014 that Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into law prompting many countries to condemn its decision to criminalise homosexuality.

Shortly after, however, the law was annulled by the country's constitutional court on the grounds that the parliament had passed it without the required quorum.

Red Pepper, a notorious Ugandan tabloid which published a list of the country's "200 top homos" last February, was the first to be given copies.

"They refused to write about it, they were angry of course, because when you read my introduction I'm bashing the media," Nabagesera explained.

New anti-gay bill 'could make homosexuals homeless and jobless'

The Ugandan government is trying to implement the new anti-gay bill, months after the previous one was annulled by the constitutional court.

Gay rights activists have been warning that, if turned into law, the proposal would allow the persecution not only of homosexuals, but also of anyone suspected of supporting homosexuality.

In fact, the new bill would criminalise "people who own property in which 'unnatural sexual practices' occur" and LGBTI activists and advocates "who will be also banned from publishing, broadcasting and distributing of information intended to facilitate homosexuality or providing funding that is viewed as promoting homosexuality."

According to 2014 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Frank Mugisha, who is executive director of Uganda's umbrella organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the proposed legislation would also punish anyone suspected of promoting homosexuality, including landlords in whose properties "unnatural sexual practices" occur.

"If the bill is signed to law, many landlords will fear prosecution and will refuse to give a house to anyone suspected of being homosexual, with a result that gay people will not be able to rent and will end up being homeless," he told IBTimes UK.

"Gay Ugandans will also have difficulties in finding a job as the bill criminalises people suspected of 'aiding and abetting' the promotion of homosexuality.

"Therefore, employers will likely refuse to hire LGBT people who express their identity openly, in order to avoid prosecution."

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