Much of the work needed to engender social justice for gays and lesbians in Africa must begin with lawmakers that have criminalize the sexual lives of gays and lesbians in many African countries. What happened to Mr. Kato is a sad statement on our societies. This is probably not an isolated case. The African map at the link below shows how far we have to go for gay rights in many African countries.
http://www.arcusfoundation.org/socialjustice/what_we_support/international/international_sogi_rights_map
--Emilie
On 01/28/11, John Stafford Anderson wrote:
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> Of all human rights abuses, this neither gets much press here or discussion in this forum. Perhaps because US clergy are behind a good portion of homophobic violence in Africa. In the assessment of African Presidents, homophobia was only mentioned in Benin.
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> John
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> From Al Jazeera <http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201112715354685338.html>
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> Uganda gay rights activist murderedDavid Kato, who last year sued a paper which outed him as gay, is attacked at home by a man who struck him on the head.
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> "The government should ensure that members of Uganda's Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender community have adequate protection from violence and take prompt action against all threats or hate speech likely to incite violence," it said.
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> The 2010 tabloid article that identified Kato, an activist with Sexual Minorities Uganda, accused gay rights leaders of "recruiting" Uganda's youth into homosexuality.
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> Another article carried the headline "Hang Them", in reference to gay rights campaigners.
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> Kato and two others successfully sued the newspaper for damages and secured a high court injunction blocking all media from outing gays.
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> He was also a vocal critic of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill which, if enacted, would massively expand the list of prosecutable offences related to being gay and allow capital punishment for "aggravated homosexuality".
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> The category includes any act involving a minor or a person who knows he is HIV positive and also encompasses "repeat offenders".
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> The country's penal code already bans "carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature", as do those of many African countries.
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> An attempt to commit a homosexual act can be punishable by seven years in jail in Uganda. A conviction for actually committing such an act carries a life sentence.
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> Obama criticism
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> Few countries in the region, however, have tried to push through legislation as repressive as the bill Uganda wants to enact.
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> Many activists say the call for tougher anti-gay measures in Uganda has been influenced by homophobic evangelical pastors from the US.
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> Maria Burnett, a HRW Uganda researcher, said the bill, which has not yet been debated in parliament, should be withdrawn.
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> "President Yoweri Museveni should categorically reject the hate that lies behind this bill, and instead encourage tolerance of divergent views of sexuality and protect vulnerable minorities," she said.
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> Barack Obama, the US president, last year called the draft bill "odious".
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> Rolling Stone, founded recently by university graduates, appears only infrequently.
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> Other Ugandan tabloids have over the past several years sporadically published similar articles listing the name and picture, and in some cases the place of residence, of homosexuals.
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--
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Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol Songolo
Social Science and Francophone Studies Bibliographer
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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