Foreign Policy Blogs

Murder of a Prominent Gay Rights Activist in Uganda.

David Kato, one of the gay men whose picture appeared on the front cover of the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, an anti-gay newspaper, was brutally beaten to death with a harmer in his home in Kampala late Wednesday, 26 January 2011.

The Associate Press is reporting that a suspect is in custody, and that the Ugandan police have ruled out sexual orientation as a possible motive for his death.

But Uganda’s gay and lesbian community disagrees, and is calling for a thorough investigation into the death of their comrade. “Sexual Minorities Uganda and the Ugandan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Community call on the Police and the Government of Uganda to seriously investigate the circumstances surrounding David’s death. We also call on religious leaders, political leaders and media houses to stop demonizing sexual minorities in Uganda since doing so creates a climate of violence against gay persons,” reads the Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) press release published through the Pambazuka electronic weekly newsletter at http://www.pambazuka.org/

David’s death comes few days after his successful court victory against the Uganda tabloid Rolling Stone for publishing and revealing the identities (including residential address) of the so-called “Men of Shame.”

Since being identified as one of the “generals” of the gay movement in Uganda by the Rolling Stone Magazine last year, David and his fellow gays and lesbians have been under constant intimidation, including death threats.

The Rolling Stone Magazine is not the only culprit blamed for the anti-homosexual environment in Uganda.  Many local and international human rights activists are also blaming the anti-homosexual U.S Evangelical activists who participated in the controversial anti-homosexual bill, calling for death penalty for certain homosexual acts, introduced in 2009 and still before the country’s parliament.

Also see my previous blog entry in November last year headlined, “The price of being gay and lesbian in Uganda.”

 

Author

Ndumba J. Kamwanyah

Ndumba Jonnah Kamwanyah, a native of Namibia in Southern Africa, is an independent consultant providing trusted advice and capacity building through training, research, and social impact analysis to customers around the world. Mos recently Ndumba returned from a consulting assignment in Liberia in support of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
In his recent previous life Ndumba taught (as an Adjunct Professor) traditional justice and indigenous African political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa at the Rhode Island College-Anthropology Department.

He is very passionate about democracy development and peace-building, and considers himself as a street researcher interested in the politics of everyday life.
Twitter: NdumbaKamwanyah