By Alice McCool
KAMPALA, May 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Shawn, a young transgender man, was sitting in a public minibus in the Ugandan capital, when an old schoolmate boarded and started loudly calling him by his former female name, astounding other passengers in the conservative east African nation.
The conductor then attempted to lock Shawn in the vehicle so that everyone could ‘check’ if he was male or female.
“When people give you trouble like that, it makes you concerned about who you are and the choices you’ve made,” said Shawn, who declined to give his full name.
“If I say I’m a man, am I really a man? Am I man enough? … You start thinking about hormone therapy. Is it that that makes you a man?”
Being transgender is not illegal in Uganda, which is famous for its stringent anti-gay laws, but there is little understanding of people who do not identify with the gender they were born with.
Many Ugandans believe transgender people are gay, leading to discrimination and violence in a political and religious environment often hostile towards homosexuality.
Shawn has never taken a minibus again and, like all transgender men interviewed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said he now leads a secluded life – mostly avoiding public spaces and social situations.
He is one of a growing number of transgender men who – having lived as both male and female – are using their experiences to challenge traditional gender roles and sexism in Uganda.
“Some transgender men … think that if I go home and someone doesn’t remove my shoes or cook for me, they are undermining my masculinity,” said Shawn.
“But have we taken the time to interrogate why some of these men are actually like this?”
