Uganda, Africa

Compiled by Richard Ammon GlobalGayz.com February 2012 Introduction A gay Ugandan couple fled to Uganda, thousands of kilometers from home with little more than the clothes on their backs. They came as brothers to live in a scorching refugee camp in northern Kenya. Surrounded by thousands of others who have fled wars and drought in neighboring countries, they came here to save their own lives. But they found little relief. Drastic Life Changes By Jonathan Kalan December 1, 2011 Globalpost.com Nairobi, Kenya  – The two tender, soft-spoken Ugandans shared a circle of good friends back in their hometown of Kampala. They were close with their families and they started a restaurant together. Life was good. That was before everything went wrong. They were disowned by their families. Their restaurant was burned down. Their car was stoned and set ablaze. And so they fled Uganda and came here, thousands of kilometers

Well, this is pretty revolting! Lonely Planet, the widely-respected travel information and guidebook company has chosen one of the world’s most homophobic and gay-violent countries as their number one pick for “Best in Travel” listings for 2012 –Uganda, Africa. A country where human rights should more correctly be called religious fundamentalist rights or in-power political rights or corrupt police rights. Surely the Lonely Planet committee that picked this country out of many other more humane destinations were aware of the abysmal violations of its citizens and especially the LGBT (gay) population. Uganda already criminalizes consensual adult same-sex behavior and more recently the Parliament is dithering with a new law that would penalize such behavior with the death penalty–including jail time for anyone who knows of homosexual behavior and does not report it. Around the world, other countries have threatened to cut off foreign aid to Uganda if the bill passes.

By Richard Ammon GlobalGayz.com Jan 28, 2011 Here is a revolting story about a funeral that only deranged minister Fred Phelps could admire–and inspire. The behavior described in this story from Reuters (below) is about as blasphemous, disgusting, irreverent and anti-Christ as one could ever expect from a Christian clergyman–as wickedly perverted as Fred Phelps of the gay-hating Westboro church in Kansas, infamous for picketing funerals of deceased AIDS victims. But this funeral behavior by an Anglican minister is perhaps worse since he was presiding over David Kato’s farewell memorial at which deeply saddened, tearful and grieving friends and family had gathered. How base-minded can a person be to desecrate a funeral so. How ‘gone wild’ into bezerk blind dogma can a cleric be to de-humanize a deceased benevolent person with curses against homosexuality, claiming it is sin and saying David Kato should not be admired. (photo, David Kato) It

From: Sharon Groves Religion and Faith Program Human Rights Campaign, Washington DC U.S. pastors are exporting bigotry to Uganda, with brutal results. This is an issue close to my heart, because I’ve spent over a decade working for equality as a lay leader in my own church, and now, as acting director of HRC’s Religion and Faith program – which helps religious leaders of all stripes speak out for equality and fight back when hatred is promoted in the name of religion.   On Thursday, that perversion of faith cost Ugandan gay rights advocate David Kato (on right in photo) his life. He was bludgeoned to death in his home after his name was among those listed in an anti-gay magazine, under the headline “Hang them!” Since at least 2009, radical U.S. Christian missionaries have added anti-gay conferences and workshops in Uganda to their anti-gay efforts in the U.S. –

By Richard Ammon GlobalGayz.com January 27, 2011 In Memorium: On February 26, 2011 one of Uganda’s finest and most outspoken LGBT rights activist, David Kato, was murdered in cold blood in his home. Friends and activists called him the “grandfather of the kuchus”, a self-applied label by Ugandan LGBTs. GlobalGayz was privileged to interview him for our ‘Gay Uganda’ story in 2008. He was a brave and highly committed activist who pushed the struggle for gay rights since the 1990′s. Over the years he was jailed for his advocacy work; he spoke at international conferences; he met with UN officials; and he was not afraid to go to public court to stop a tabloid from falsely outing suspected gays. He won. His work and his memory will go down in Ugandan human rights history. This blog is dedicated to the memory of that braveheart, David Kato. (Stories at NYTimes1, NYTimes2,

Richard Ammon, GlobalGayz.com January 17, 2010 I’m posting this message sent from an activist friend in Uganda. It is incredibly beyond words that this vile man should weasel his way to Washington for a ‘prayer breakfast’ with  the President.  I am amazed at the gall this bizarre bigot to think he can sit at the same table as Barack Obama–not that Obama is perfect but at least  he has a moral heart. Stop Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill Author From Entering The U.S. David Bahati, the author of Uganda’s (photo below) now internationally infamous “Kill The Gays” bill, is scheduled to attend the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4th. We cannot allow him to enter this country. The “Kill The Gays” bill is designed to eradicate homosexuals from Uganda. This is genocide in its most hateful form. It literally calls for anyone who IS homosexual to be put to death, and calls for anyone

Neophyte Legislator Proposes Deadly Laws Against Gays: Unleashes International Protest Richard Ammon, GlobalGayz Laguna Beach, CA Yoweri Museveni has been president of Uganda for 24 years in a country that had suffered decades of government corruption, mismanagement, bloody guerilla activity and civil war, all preceded by the the horrors of the Idi Amin tyranny in the seventies. His rise to power through danger and rebellion and military manipulations were fraught with complicated deals and reprisals along the way. The long path to power was a high-risk-high-stakes political chess game–which he won by stealth and bullets. Holding that power from 1986 through the tumultuous eighties while ‘sort of’ leading the country to a democracy has been a delicate balancing act by this seasoned political warrior. He is big improvement over the ‘strong man’ dictators in Africa who ruled most African countries after independence in the seventies and eighties. He has brought

(Humaneness: marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals) Well, isn’t this a sweet headline from a government official: Ugandan Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo spoke with journalists today. While acknowledging the great numbers of “foreigners” who express grave concern over the possibility of such a [proposed anti-gay] bill becoming law, he made it clear that he is not paying attention to them. Buturo balked at the notion that the proposed bill — which, among other things, would criminalise any public discussion of homosexuality and could penalise an individual who knowingly rented property to a homosexual — constituted a human rights violation. “We are really getting tired of this phrase human rights. It is being abused. Anything goes, and if you are challenged? ‘Oh, it’s my right’,” the minister snapped. Read more: African Veil, Asylum Law, Behind the Mask And then there’s Dr. Rick Scarborough of Vision America

  Westhampton, MA – October 15, 2009 Richard Ammon -GlobalGayz.com   Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) Condemn the Proposed Anti-homosexuality Bill Last year GlobalGayz visited Uganda and met several of the LGBT activists involved in SMUG and other rights organizations. Their story is one of persecution, clandestine living, arrests and police abuse. Just before and after my visit members were harassed by authorities and roughed up for their non-violent activity–including unfurling a banner at an HIV conference where there was no mention of MSM as a high-risk group. (Read the story here.) This highly discriminatory bill, described here, was at that time being rumored about but had not yet been fully composed. Now it is here in its pernicious violating form and is being urged upon Parliament by right-wing religiously-fed legislators who simply hate any idea about about homosexuality–never mind how much it violates the country’s constitutional guarantees of expression,

A biased news article composed by an ill-informed reporter about gays in the capital city Kampala. It is poorly focused, punctuatued with uselesss hearsay and winds up quoting ‘professonals’ with outdated and irrelevant ideas about the ’cause’ of homosexuality–a daunting introduction to Ugandan public attitudes toward lesbigy citizens in that country. Also see: Gay Uganda Stories Gay Uganda News & Reports 2002 to present Gay Uganda Photo Galleries New Vision (http://www.newvision.co.ug) From http://allafrica.com/stories/200208300163.html August 30, 2002 Kampala, Uganda Counselors Disregard Inborn Homosexuality By Denis Jjuuko About four weeks ago, my editor assigned me to do an interview with a homosexual. I visited some NGOs and inquired if they had any of their contacts, but all in vain. I contacted a few female friends, but they too were not helpful. Eventually, I was directed to a popular restaurant in town. This restaurant is run by a white homosexual, whom we shall

Introduction The country may be homophobic and the politicians and clerics may be close-minded but that does not stop Uganda’s LGBT activists from charging on with hope and integrity. In Memorium: On February 26, 2011 one of Uganda’s finest and most outspoken LGBT rights activist, David Kato, was murdered in cold blood in his home. Friends and activists called him the “grandfather of the kuchus”, a self-applied label by Ugandan LGBTs. GlobalGayz was privileged to interview him for this story in 2008. He was a brave and highly committed activist who pushed the struggle for gay rights since the 1990′s. Over the years he was jailed for his advocacy work and he was not afraid to go to public court to stop a Kampala tabloid from falsely outing suspected gays. He won. This story is dedicated to the memory of that braveheart, David Kato. By Richard Ammon March 2008 In contrast to Tanzania’s

Kampala city is home to about a million and a half people most of whom are manual laborers tending to the huge food markets, driving worn buses, cementing new structures together or demolishing old ones with sledge hammers. It is a workers’ city that hardly sleeps; it is ambitious in commerce, eager in education, aggressive in HIV prevention, connected by cell phones–and yet much of the population is poor and lives in dilapidated quarters. The city’s middle class is growing slowly; SUVs are status symbols and fine houses are built behind tall walls with electric fences. And the government of president Yoweri Museveni has held power since 1986 and has questionably improved Ugandan life for some, certainly for those on the inner circles of power–but not for LGBT citizens.

Masindi town is on the way to Murchison Falls National Park. It is typical of rural villages with its general impoverished lifestyle, manual labor job force and bustling daily food market. Yet there is a resigned easy-going attitude among the residents who share a common bond in their village: the will to survival by being resourceful.

This national park in the northwest of Uganda is home to one of the world’s most powerful waterfalls as well as a large wild animal reserve. Here a wide river flow is forced through a six-meter-wide narrow gorge with ferocious force. Visitors can take a boat ride up the Victoria branch of the Nile River (6700 km from Lake Victoria to Egypt) toward the Falls–but only within 500 meters since the current coming out of the Falls is too powerful for boats to navigate safely. Along the way are crocodiles, colorful birds, elephants and hippos. This gallery displays images from the boat trip to the Falls.

This is Uganda’s most beautiful lake, set among green cultivated hills and home to numerous small villages of farmers, fishermen and pygmies.