South Africa Leads the Continent on Gay Rights

via theatlantic, by John Campbell

Unfortunately, much of sub-Saharan Africa is homophobic. Recent legislation, some proposed, some passed, condemns gay marriage and sometimes outlaws gay sexual activity.

Nigeria, Uganda, and Liberia all have such legislation pending or passed, often with the provision of draconian penalties. Such legislation appears to be very popular.

The exception is South Africa, with a constitution that provides among the most comprehensive protection of individual rights in the world.

Last week, a regional court magistrate sentenced four men convicted of murdering a 19-year old lesbian in 2006 to eighteen years in prison, with four years suspended. The sentencing was widely hailed by the human rights community.

The trial and sentencing took place in Khayelitsha, a grim township outside of Cape Town and an area of severe social deprivation.

Certainly there is homophobia in South Africa. The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, was quoted in the South African press as saying, "Traditionally, there were no people who engaged in same-sex relationships. There was nothing like that and, if you do it, you must know that you are rotten."

But, the acceptability of homophobia in South Africa appears to be low. Following outcry, the Zulu Royal Household issued a public statement saying that the king was a victim of a "reckless translation" of his remarks from Zulu to English.

The household spokesman said, "At no stage did His Majesty condemn gay relations or same sex relations."

Meanwhile, in Uganda, where a particularly draconian piece of anti-gay legislation is working its way through parliament again, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said publicly that what consenting adults do in private "is really not the matter of law."

He also recalled that the apartheid regime in South Africa had prohibited sexual relations across the color line, and that it provided the police with the authorization "to raid peoples' bedrooms."


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Legalized Hate in Uganda?

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Kerry Kennedy

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, hours before the Ninth Circuit ruled "Prop 8" unconstitutional in the state of California, raucous cheers rang out in the Ugandan Parliament as legislators reintroduced a controversial bill that would in effect legislate hate against the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.

The proposed bill, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), would compel families, doctors, and counselors to report on all those suspected of being members of the LGBTI community, and would impose criminal sanctions, possibly even the death penalty, for those who fail to turn in their fellow citizens.

Combined with other proposed legislation before the Parliament, like portions of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Control Bill, the AHB would also hinder Uganda's HIV-prevention efforts, contributing to the alarming rise in HIV infection rates.

This poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of all Ugandans and is a clear violation of international law. It denies LGBTI citizens their rights to health care, education, and work.

It creates an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, and fear. It criminalizes the actions of civil society organizations and individual citizens who work to defend the legal rights of their fellow Ugandans.

And it puts the imprimatur of the law behind discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is a blatant suppression of the rights of all Ugandans and an attempt to curtail the freedoms of speech and assembly of a vibrant civil society in Uganda.

The bill's supporters claim to be acting in the name of protecting Ugandan children -- playing on the common prejudice that equates homosexuality with pedophilia.

In fact, the bill places children squarely in harm's way. The bill calls on Ugandan families to betray trust and turn in their siblings and children.

The bill would have doctors break confidentiality and deny care to Ugandans. In fact, this bill would disrupt Ugandan families, increase the HIV prevalence in the country, and set a frightening precedent for the silencing of rights advocacy of any group deemed undesirable by politicians.

Moreover, the bill's possible passage into law is not the only threat to Ugandans. The reintroduction of the bill imminently threatens the safety of the LGBTI community and the safety of anyone assumed to be LGBTI.

Vigilante violence and hate speech amplified by sensationalist media and homophobic rhetoric by religious leaders is all too real today in Uganda.

Across the country, LGBTI people already face physical attacks and rape, extortion by neighbors, and arbitrary arrest by police.

If we support the human and civil rights of our LGBTI citizens in the United States, we must also vigorously advocate against the passage of this bill and act to stop state-sanctioned homophobia from taking root in any country.

If we support human rights, we cannot ignore legalized brutality against any group of our global community.


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'Gay Rights are Human Rights'

via boxturtlebulletin, by Jim Burroway

A video appeared on YouTube yesterday showing Kenya’s Chief Justice Willy Mutunga declaring that “gay rights are human rights.” The remarks were delivered on September 8, 2011 at a groundbreaking ceremony for FIDA Uganda, a Ugandan organization of Women Lawyers. FIDA Uganda was among the organizations which denounced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

The Chief Justice’s speech in Uganda is interesting for three reasons. First, his call for recognizing that “gay rights are human rights” actually pre-dates an identical declaration from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by two full months.

Secondly, the woman wearing lavender you see seating herself at the beginning of the video is Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, who played an important role in reviving the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in October.

And finally, Uganda and Kenya close neighbors, sharing a common history as part of Britian’s East African colonies, and they maintain extensive political and economic ties.

Much of Uganda’s imports and exports flow through the Kenyan port of Mombasa, and the two countries are part of a larger emerging common market, the East African Community.

The situation for LGBT people in Kenya is generally much better than in Uganda, although there have been instances of mob violence against suspected gay people in recent years.

Mutunga has an interesting history. In the early 1980s as a student, he was politically active against Kenyan president/dictator Daniel Arap Moi, which led to his detention and exile to Canada.

When Kenya turned to multi-party elections in 1991, he returned home and became part of Kenya’s “Young Turks, advocating for human rights in the country.

He continued to work in human rights positions throughout most of the next two decades. After Kenya reorganized under a new constitution following the disputed 2007 which broke down into nationwide violence, Mutunga was named to the country’s new High Court in 2011.

We have fought and succeeded in demanding our rights of movement and association  although we can’t take them for granted.

We should see less of the workshopping in hotels, less of the flipcharts and the [?], as we now move to the countrysides and make sure our people own and protect the human rights and social justice messages.

The other frontier of marginalization is the gay rights movement. Gay rights are human rights. Here I’m simply confining my statement to the context of human rights and social justice paradigm, and avoiding the controversy that exists in our constitutions and various legislation. As far as I know, human rights principles that we work on, do not allow us to implement human rights selectively.

We need clarity on this issue within the human rights movement in East Africa, if we are to face the challenges that are spearheaded by powerful political and religious forces in our midst.

I find the arguments made by some of our human rights activists, the so-called “moral arguments” simply rationalizations for using human rights principles opportunistically and selectively.

We need to bring together the opposing viewpoints in the movement of this issue for final and conclusive debate.

I thank the FIDA movement, membership, leadership, and its national, regional and global network for the honor bestowed on me. I’m very proud of this honor and I will never take it for granted.

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"Hate No More" in Uganda

via IrishTimes, by Caelainn Hogan

The brutal murder of gay activist David Kato has motivated more people to speak out, writes CAELAINN HOGAN

“MY BODY is not a battlefield,” declares one poster on a Kampala street. “Uganda belongs to all who live in it,” reads another. On walls across a country known for its condemnation of homosexuality, a simple yet powerful appeal is being made: hate no more.

The Hate No More campaign, launched on August 10th, is a courageous four-month initiative to raise awareness and end discrimination. In addition to the nationwide poster campaign, LGBT activists are engaging in direct dialogue with religious leaders, NGOs, police, health providers and politicians.

“These people exist among you,” says Joshua Muhanguzi of Freedom and Roam Uganda, the organisation spearheading the campaign. “They’re your brothers, your sisters, your parents. So stop the hate.”

In the same month, following widespread international pressure, the Ugandan cabinet finally rejected the 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by MP David Bahati.

While homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, the Bill sought the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and threatened three years’ imprisonment for those who failed to report a known homosexual within 24 hours.

As well as suffering verbal and physical abuse, many LGBT people in Uganda are expelled from school and disowned by their families because of their sexuality. Many are denied medical and counselling services.

“Lesbians have been forced into marriage to cover up their sexuality,” says Joanitah Abang, programmes manager for Freedom and Roam Uganda.

“Others have been raped by family members and friends to cure them of the ‘disease’.”
Campaigning in her home district of Lira, Abang received positive responses from the community, including the police. Local radio stations, however, accused the campaign of recruiting people to homosexuality.

“They claimed I was given money to recruit people; the whole place is on fire, they want to kill me,” she says. “I just tell people, whatever you do, you cannot break me.”

The brutal murder of gay activist David Kato in January was a harsh reminder of the high risks Ugandan activists face, but his death has motivated more people to speak out.


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Ugandan LGBT Activist Assassinated

Beyond words.

via Justice for Gay Africans Society

The news today that David Kato, a staunch and prominent Human Rights activist in Uganda is a big threat and raises newer fears. David dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of gay African people in Uganda right up to his death earlier today.

Information available stated that a man came in a vehicle, went into his house, hit him [twice] on the head and went back into his car and left. An undoubtedly hate crime. Could we argue that this isnt inspired by homophobia? David died on the way to the hospital.

Such is the life of gay people across many African countries and such is the ease with which anyone can attack them. For this assailant in Uganda, he had the boldness to do this horrible crime in broad daylight at 1pm [as reported] because he has the confidence that rarely would anyone care? Yes, after all, he is ‘cleansing the land’

Read the rest.

Read coverage from Human Rights Watch.

Read President Obama's statement on the murder.

Read statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Fears for safety of Ugandan lesbian due to be deported

A lesbian woman due to be deported from Britain to Uganda has been told by a Ugandan MP that she must "repent or reform" when she returns home.

The politician, David Bahati, intervened in the case of Brenda Namigadde, due to be deported on Friday, saying he would drop a clause making homosexuality punishable by death in a bill he introduced to the Ugandan parliament.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender campaigners were sceptical of his pledge to drop the death penalty, and said that Bahatia's intervention meant Namigadde was in "desperate trouble" if deported.

Gay sex is a criminal offence in Uganda punishable by a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Bahati told the Guardian: "Brenda is welcome in Uganda if she will abandon or repent her behaviour. Here in Uganda, homosexuality is not a human right. It is behaviour that is learned and it can be unlearned. We wouldn't want Brenda to be painting a wrong picture of Uganda, that we are harassing homosexuals."

Asked what would happen if she did not "repent" he said: "If she is caught in illegal practices she will be punished. If she comes to promote homosexuality, if she is caught in the act, if she is caught in illegal acts, she will be punished. I would be surprised, if she was promoting homosexuality, if she were not arrested."

His bill, currently in committee stage, would impose life imprisonment for consenting adults who have gay sex, and the death penalty for people with HIV, "serial" homosexuals and those who have sex with under-18s, if it became law.

Bahati said he was "willing to drop the death penalty" because of international concerns, but "key clauses", including life imprisonment for gay people or gay marriage, imprisonment for the "promotion" of homosexuality and for those who fail to report an offence under the act, would remain. He was "confident" the bill would be passed following elections in the country next month, he said.

Speaking from Yarl's Wood detention centre, Namigadde, 29, who fled Uganda in 2003 after being threatened and her house destroyed over her relationship with her Canadian partner, said: "I'll be tortured or killed if I'm sent back to Uganda. They've put people like me to death there. Most of my friends in Uganda have disappeared."

Her initial asylum claim was rejected in part on the basis that there was not sufficient evidence that she is a lesbian.

Namigadde's lawyer, Alex Oringa, from Cardinal Solicitors, who submitted a fresh asylum claim on Monday, said he was "very worried" for her safety. "The moment she arrives at Entebbe airport she will be arrested. They will detain her and you never know what happens in detention. They think she has humiliated the Ugandan government."

Gay rights groups, including AllOut, a US-based gay right group and LGBT Asylum news, have petitioned Theresa May, the home secretary, to grant Namigadde asylum.

The UK Border Agency, said: "Ms Namigadde's case has been carefully considered by both the UK Border Agency and the courts and she has been found not to have a right to remain here. She has submitted further representations and these will be reviewed by the UK Border Agency prior to any removal."

Read the original article here.

To Eat Da Poo Poo All Over Da Place

Thanks to Joe.My.God for this. 

Pretty catchy!

Uganda's Rev. Martin Ssempa, who wants the death penalty for homosexuality, has been showing extreme fetish porn to horrified audiences as proof that all gay men need to put to death. And as things goes in YouTube-land, Ssempa has been remixed. Some will find this hilarious, some definitely will not. NSFW! SRSLY!

Rachel on Rick Warren and Uganda - Investigative Reporting Lives!!!!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Homophobic Ugandan Bill Demonizes People with HIV

Remarks by Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World delivered at the Commonwealth People's Forum on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 10:00 a.m., Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago:

It’s one thing to talk about the promotion of the ‘traditional family’ as the author of the Bill does ad nauseam; it’s quite another thing to incite the promotion of disease and murder. Gays and lesbians don’t challenge traditional families; their private sexual practices don’t invade the sanctity of family life. The accusation is a vile canard. People who plead the supremacy of family values over other human values have one of two motives: either they’re biblical fundamentalists whose religiosity has gone haywire, or they’re so steeped in irrational fear of different sexual orientation that human rights have no meaning. 

This is a moment of truth for the Commonwealth. The anti-homosexuality Private Member’s Bill introduced into the parliament of Uganda, and now proceeding through the normal legislative process, puts the Commonwealth’s legitimacy and integrity to the test.

In a fashion unmistakable in both clarity and intent, the putative legislation declares war on homosexuality. There are deeply offensive sodomy laws and homophobic statutes on the books of many other Commonwealth countries, particularly here in the Caribbean. But nothing is as stark, punitive and redolent of hate as the Bill in Uganda; nothing comes close to such an omnibus violation of the human rights of sexual minorities. For some time now, Uganda has had offensive anti-homosexual legislation on the books, but this variant, this inflammatory redesign makes of the law a veritable charter of malice.

What is truly staggering about all of this is that not a peep of skepticism or incredulity has come from President Museveni (pictured). And President Museveni is chairing the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit. In so doing, he makes a mockery of Commonwealth principles.

One must remember that the last meeting of CHOGM was held in Uganda in 2007, and issued what is called the “Munyonyo Statement of Respect and Understanding”. It asserted that the Commonwealth “is a body well-placed to affirm the fundamental truth that diversity is one of humanity’s greatest strengths”. It went on to say that “accepting diversity, respecting the dignity of all human beings, and understanding the richness of our multiple identities have always been fundamental to the Commonwealth’s principles and approach …”. President Museveni signed the document. How in the world does he reconcile the affirmation then with the defamation now?

It is noteworthy that much of the strongest opposition to the Bill is coming from the courageous Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender activists on the ground. LGBT activism always commands admiration, but in this instance especially so, because their very lives hang in the balance.\

Read the rest on AIDS-Free World.

"The Final Solution"? Gay Ugandans Could Face Death Penalty Under New Law

"Oh, the gayuganda blog is one of the things which are illegal, as per that bill. I am furiously promoting homosexuality on this blog, complaining about a law like this. So, 5 years in prison, and my (non existent) bank balance will be set back by 100M Uganda shillings…! And the people who dare to give us condoms and lubricant for sex… Or, if you dare to have an HIV prevention programme for homosexuals in Uganda... or even try to teach safer sex. Well, the penalties are stiff. Very stiff. Jail, and jail and other things."

via RH Reality Check, by Amie Newman

In Uganda, the blogger known as the GayUgandan is calling it "the final solution."

Though homosexual acts are already illegal in that country, a new bill would penalize homosexuality with tougher penalties - along the lines of life imprisonment and the death penalty. Yes, you read that right. The "Anti-Homosexuality" Bill imposes stricter definitions for "homosexual behavior", extending the definition according to the blog Box Turtle Bulletin, from sexual activity to "merely touch[ing] another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality", and harsher sentences for what the Ugandan Parliament is calling "aggravated homosexuality." It sounds more like aggravated, fearful heterosexuals with hate in their heart. But "aggravated homosexuality"? What is that?

 According to the BBC, "aggravated homosexuality" would warrant the death penalty for "repeat offenders" and includes such "crimes" as having sex when you're HIV positive, having sex with a partner who has a disability, or when your partner is under 17 years old. 

Read the rest.

Report: Bush Administration Funding Anti-Gay Groups in Uganda

Two disturbing reports from Uganda, where a cabinet minister warned gays and lesbians to leave the country. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission—which previously reported state-sanctioned homophobia across Africa—now uncovers evidence the George W. Bush Administration is funding religious organizations in Uganda that "actively promote violence and discrimination against lesbians and gay men."

Read the rest on rod 2.0 beta.

Discrimination, Violence Against MSM, WSW in Uganda Hindering HIV Prevention, Treatment Efforts, Human Rights Watch Says

[via Kaiser's Daily HIV/AIDS Report]


Human Rights Watch on Thursday in a statement said that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's promotion of homophobia and violence against men who have sex with men, as well as women who have sex with women, is hindering the country's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.

HRW urged Museveni to repeal a law against sodomy and to end his "long record of harassing" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (Cawthorne, Reuters, 8/24). In addition, HRW called on the government to integrate sexual orientation and gender identity issues into Uganda's HIV prevention and treatment programs (HRW statement, 8/23).

Juliana Cano Nieto, a researcher in HRW's LGBT program, said that the government's promotion of homophobia is "undermining Uganda's efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS." HRW said that the government harasses gay organizations, promotes discrimination and raids the homes of advocates, according to Reuters (Reuters, 8/24). Scott Long, director of HRW's LGBT program, in a letter sent to Museveni on Thursday said that the government's actions against MSM and WSW place the "health of all Ugandans" at risk "amid the HIV/AIDS pandemic." Long added that the government's "determination to silence any discussion of sexual orientation" is "devastating" to the fight against HIV/AIDS (Letter text, 8/23).

HRW's announcement came one week after Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of four LGBT organizations, launched a campaign titled "Let us Live in Peace." The group at a press conference in Kampala, Uganda, condemned discrimination and violence against MSM and WSW, as well as the "life-threatening silence about their sexualities in HIV/AIDS prevention programs."

Martin Ssempa -- pastor of Makerere Community Church, which has received funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- on Aug. 21 organized a rally to protest the press conference, during which he called for continued action against MSM and WSW (HRW statement, 8/23). Ugandan officials were not available for comment, according to Reuters (Reuters, 8/24).