Fri 28 Jan 2011 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
David Kato A Ugandan gay activist listed in an anti-gay newspaper campaign has been beaten to death with a hammer in his home. David Kato successfully sued The Rolling Stone newspaper which late last year outed 100 allegedly gay Ugandans with the headline "Hang them!" Although Kampala police say they suspect robbery was the motive the mood against homosexuals in Uganda has turned ugly in recent years, with religious leaders, many of whom are closely connected to USA-based evangelical groups and the Government trying to legislate penalties and sanctions against gays and lesbians. One of the few openly gay men in Uganda, and the most vocal local critic of the proposed legislation, Kato had told close friends of increased harassment since the court victory on 3 January, and of receiving warnings that people were going to "deal with him." Civil society organisations in South Africa, where Kato lived in the 1990s, paid tribute to "our courageous queer African martyr", and said that politicians and religious leaders in Uganda were "at least in part responsible for this callous murder" due to their "fostering of prejudice and homophobia."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 28th January 2011 - 11:36am