By Barigye Ambrose
Adebayor, as he is commonly known, is one of the sports personalities in the Ugandan LGBTI movement; he holds many accolades in different sporting fields ranging from national pool tournaments, soccer, swimming to athletics. He is also the chief gym instructor in one of the executive hotels in Kampala. On a normal day, Adebayor starts off his routine with a set of different exercises to keep fit as he waits on clients who mostly visit the gym later after work.
Adebayor who is also the reigning Mr. Pride 2015, has from the beginning of his tenure called upon his peers to embrace a physically active life, something that explains his choice of occupation.
His clients vary and it is through such interactions the gymnast has been able to create a number of friends in the white collar world. He has also won the hearts of many clients due to his commitment and respect for everyone that walks into his place of work.
On the down side though, all has not been easy for Adebayor as one of his superiors has tried all the possible means to make sure that he is terminated from the work. According to the latter, Adebayor is not capable of handling he various clients and insists his subordinate has an ‘evil’ character.
Fortunately, this has not deterred the committed sportsman from execution prove his superior wrong; he shows up at work on time and has kept admirable work ethics in the hope that people will stop passing judgment based on his gender identity but rather what he delivers at that facility. Adebayor is one of the many LGBTI identifying individuals in the country that continue to face discrimination and harassment at work but he refuses to let that stand in his way. Thankfully, he also has the support if the facility overseer a factor that has played an important role in him keeping his job.
There are many known incidents of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in many sectors across Uganda from sports, entertainment, employment, religion to education; something that makes it even harder for LGBTI persons to flourish in any of their desired careers .
But even with the hostility, some community members have not given up on their dreams. In line with this, we also salute the ‘Magic Stormers’, a team that has endeavored to promote the talent of many basketballers from the Ugandan LGBTI movement. To all the sports personalities in the community, we celebrate your courage to stand out in such Uganda’s unfriendly environment and claim your space.
