Germany deports lesbian woman to Uganda despite harsh anti-LGBTQ laws

Uganda has one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. Nevertheless, Germany has now deported a young lesbian woman to her former home.

Published: 21 July 2026, 16:48

Deported from here to Uganda, a departing plane at Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport Photo: Peter Schatz/imago

By Joscha Frahm

"If you're reading this, I'm already gone," Angel wrote to her partner Consolate on Monday afternoon via WhatsApp. "I did my best and you all tried everything." As soon as she lands in Uganda, she must leave the country as quickly as possible to get to safety.

Last Monday, German authorities deported the 23-year-old lesbian woman from Uganda to her home country. There, she faces severe violence, state persecution, and possibly the death penalty. Since 2023, Uganda has had one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws.

Neither warnings from human rights organizations and members of the Bundestag, nor a petition with over 12,000 signatures, could dissuade the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) from the deportation. When asked, the BAMF did not comment on Angel's case.

According to taz information, however, the BAMF stands by its decision despite a renewed review of the case. The Bavarian State Office for Asylum and Repatriations, responsible for carrying out the deportation, wrote in response to an inquiry that it had reviewed the case again due to public reporting and emphasized that the "enforcement of the obligation to leave the country" was "in accordance with legal regulations."

Authority error possibly reason for deportation detention

Angel, whose full name should not be published, came to Germany in 2025 and lived in accommodation in Bavaria. Her application was rejected in July 2025. At the end of May 2026, the 23-year-old was placed in deportation detention because the authorities assumed she wanted to evade deportation.

The reason for this was possibly an error by the authority. The BAMF had sent her asylum decision to an old accommodation, even though Angel had long been living in new accommodation. Julia Serdarov from the lesbian-queer counseling center LeTRa, who supports Angel, explains that Angel had no opportunity to respond to the decision. The Hof District Court decided at the end of May to keep Angel in detention until deportation.

The BAMF rejected Angel's asylum application because it considered her homosexuality unproven. In her hearing, according to the protocol available to taz, the 23-year-old reported:

• Social exclusion
• Threats
• A physical attack
• A forced marriage
• The break with her family after her coming out

In Uganda, she had to hide her sexuality. Nevertheless, the BAMF found her descriptions to be "vague, superficial, and lacking in substance."

A second asylum application from deportation detention was also rejected – as "manifestly unfounded." Angel only had one week to file a lawsuit against this decision. While the lawsuit is ongoing, deportation can still take place.

At 2 a.m., the partner's phone rings

An urgent motion by her lawyer also failed. Affidavits from her partner and her mother, confirming her homosexuality, were evaluated by the Regensburg Administrative Court as "biased letters of favor" and the motion was rejected on July 15.

In the night from Sunday to Monday, Consolate, who has been with Angel for a year, was woken by the ringing of her phone. "Angel called me at 2 a.m.," she wrote to taz in a text message. Angel was taken to Munich Airport in the middle of the night by three uniformed officers. At seven in the morning, they spoke again on the phone. "She was crying and very scared," reports Consolate. After a scheduled flight via Istanbul, Angel landed in Uganda early Tuesday morning.

The Ugandan lawyer for Angel's family, whose name should not appear in this text for security reasons but is known to taz, says: "For LGBTQ members, it is..."