Ugandan scholar Dr Stella Nyanzi. PHOTO | DAILY MONITOR
Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi has reached out to gay American comedian Ellen DeGeneres and British songwriter Sir Elton John seeking financial support for her political campaigns.
In her letter, posted on Facebook, Nyanzi, who is known for rubbing President Yoweri Museveni’s establishment the wrong way, affirmed her support for the LGBTQ community.
“This letter is, therefore, to formally and publicly invite both of you to fund my campaign for political office. My total budget is UGX 1,300,000,000 Uganda Shillings, which is equivalent to $340,000 (Sh34million),” Nyanzi wrote on Facebook.
Nyanzi is seeking to become the next Kampala Woman Member of Parliament in the country’s general elections next year.
“My opponents and their fans assert that my campaigns for political office are heavily funded by white gay men and white lesbian women. In a deeply conservative national context where patriarchy, misogyny, heterosexism, homophobia and transphobia thrive, this homophobic propaganda is detracting potential supporters from my campaign,” Nyanzi says in her letter.
“I have never denied that I am a strong ally of the LGBTIQA+ communities in Uganda specifically, but Africa more broadly. I acknowledge my academic research and scientific knowledge production through scholarly journal articles, book chapters, poetry and conference presentations on same-sex relationships and non-binary genders,” the letter reads on.
Nyanzi further claimed in the letter that during her public media engagements, her opponents and their supporters have been masterminding a political smear-campaign in which they call her ‘a promoter of homosexuality.’
Nyanzi has participated in several local marches and attended diverse processes that challenged the Anti-Homosexuality bill in Uganda.
She recently also announced that her London-based baby daddy informed her he was gay.
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