This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Kasha courageously advocates for the rights and improved living conditions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in Uganda, often putting her life at risk. She provides a stirring narrative of the particular dangers faced--and the resilience demonstrated--by the LGBT members of civil society in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa.

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera is an Ugandan LGBT activist advocating for the rights and an improvement of the LIVING CONDITIONS of lesbian, bisexual and transgender in Uganda, where homosexuality is illegal. She is also the Founder and the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of Freedom and Roam Uganda, one of the main lesbian, bisexual and transgender women rights organization in the country.

After being expelled from several schools, Kasha decided to study the law of Uganda and find a way forward. An accountant by profession, she has excelled in HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY and obtained a certificate in human rights law. For the past 10 years she has been speaking at international forums highlighting the plight of lesbian women in her country. Perhaps even MORE importantly, Kasha has had the courage to appear on national television in Uganda, becoming one of the first gay people to openly speak out.

She founded Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), an organization to support her fight for the rights of marginalized communities within the Ugandan LBT RIGHTS MOVEMENT. In 2007, she appeared at the World Social FORUM in Nairobi and spoke in front of 60.000 people about the respect and tolerance of homosexuals in the world. In reaction to that, she became a victim of violent harassment. Since then she has been shifting from house to house, afraid to stay long in the same place. Kasha received the prestigious Martin Ennals Human Rights Defender Prize in October 2011 and the International Nuremberg human rights Award 2013 among their recognitions.

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