Uganda Newspaper Names '200 Top' Homosexuals After President Signs Anti-Gay Law

[Type Username Here]

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan newspaper published a list Tuesday of what it called the country's "200 top" homosexuals, outing some Ugandans who previously had not identified themselves as gay one day after the president enacted a harsh anti-gay law.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday's signing of the bill by President Yoweri Museveni marked "a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights" and warned that Washington could cut aid to the government of the East African nation.

"Now that this law has been enacted, we are beginning an internal review of our relationship with the Government of Uganda to ensure that all dimensions of our engagement, including assistance programs, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and reflect our values," Kerry said in a statement.

The Red Pepper tabloid published the names — and some pictures — of alleged homosexuals in a front-page story under the headline: "EXPOSED!"

The list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Pepe Julian Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that Uganda's new anti-gay law could spark violence against homosexuals. A popular Ugandan hip-hop star and a Catholic priest are also on the list.

Few Ugandans identify themselves publicly as gay, and the tabloid's publication of alleged homosexuals recalled a similar list published in 2011 by a now-defunct tabloid that called for the execution of gays. A Ugandan judge later condemned the outing of homosexuals in a country where gays face severe discrimination, saying it amounted to an invasion of privacy. A prominent Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, was killed after that list came out, and activists said at the time that they believed he was targeted because of his work promoting gay rights in Uganda.

"The media witch hunt is back," tweeted Jacqueline Kasha, a well-known Ugandan lesbian activist who is among those listed in the Red Pepper story.

Uganda's new-anti-gay law punishes gay sex with up to life in jail. The bill originally proposed the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults and acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV. First-time offenders also face life in jail, contrary to an earlier version of the bill that mentioned a 14-year jail term.

The new law also creates the offenses of "conspiracy to commit homosexuality" as well as "aiding and abetting homosexuality," both of which are punishable with a seven-year jail term. Those convicted of "promoting homosexuality" face similar punishment.

In signing the bill, Museveni said the measure is needed because the West is promoting homosexuality in Africa, rejecting international criticism of the law as interference in Uganda's internal affairs. Museveni accused "arrogant and careless Western groups" of trying to recruit Ugandan children into homosexuality, but he did not name these purported groups.

Ugandan police spokesman Patrick Onyango said on Tuesday that no homosexuals have been arrested since Museveni signed the bill but that at least two had been taken into custody since lawmakers passed the bill last December.

Onziema, the gay activist, said he had counted up to six arrests and said that more than a dozen Ugandan homosexuals had fled the country since December over safety concerns.

Homosexuality has long been criminalized in Uganda under a colonial-era law that outlawed sex acts "against the order of nature."

Some Ugandan lawyers and activists have said they will challenge the law in court as unconstitutional and impossible to implement.

Nicholas Opiyo, a Ugandan lawyer who runs a rights watchdog group called Chapter Four, predicted Tuesday that the new law would make life worse for Ugandan gays.

"The enactment of the anti-homosexuality bill has only emboldened the ... population in their rejection of anybody perceived to be gay or even friendly to gays," he said. "These things are going to continue. They are going to get more frequent."

The Ugandan law — which came just over a month after Nigeria passed a similar measure against gays — has been condemned around the world, although it is widely popular among Ugandans.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that the law would institutionalize discrimination and could encourage harassment and violence against gays.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/uganda-newspaper-names-top-homosexuals_n_4851503.html

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Interesting they reevaluate their relationship with one nation but its business as usual with others that do the same thing.

 

[Type Username Here]

Interesting they reevaluate their relationship with one nation but its business as usual with others that do the same thing.

Agreed.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Agreed.

That tells me it isnt really about the law but some other plan they have for these people by requiring that they cosign specific behavior. I think its so they can get some moist leadership in office and have sway over the nation by sending possibly a gay diplomat for negotiations of some kind.

 

[GreatestLaker]

 

[The Real]

Interesting they reevaluate their relationship with one nation but its business as usual with others that do the same thing.

One could say the same about Uganda, spending all this time and money going after gays while corporate and government corruption, rape, neocolonial activity, and poverty remain.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

One could say the same about Uganda, spending all this time and money going after gays while corporate and government corruption, rape, neocolonial activity, and poverty remain.

They should definately do something about those issues as well if they want to be prosperous.

 

[88m3]

So it's not about being gay it's about asset stripping, ah....

 

[Markeith]

Come on coli dudes take this thread to platinum status just like all the other gay threads!

 

[Type Username Here]

So it's not about being gay it's about asset stripping, ah....

It's about both I think.

This draconian law is absolutely fukked up. There is going to be a lot of people killed and imprisoned for this. I'm sure some will use the law to label people gay just to see them locked up or beaten.

On the other hand, Uganda's law seems much less severe than Saudi Arabia's, a country we support without issue, despite them financing our enemies, financing attacks, killing homosexuals, treating women as subhuman, treating minorities as subhuman, having open discrimination on racial and religious lines, and so on.

We don't seem to hear our Government speak out about that or the homosexual community.

$$$$$ talks.

 

[Box Cutta]

On the other hand, Uganda's law seems much less severe than Saudi Arabia's, a country we support without issue, despite them financing our enemies, financing attacks, killing homosexuals, treating women as subhuman, treating minorities as subhuman, having open discrimination on racial and religious lines, and so on.

We don't seem to hear our Government speak out about that or the homosexual community.

$$$$$ talks.

As long as this is the case, I'm not going to cry about the Ugandan law at all. Good for the goose....

 

[Blackking]

"a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights"



lets not get carried away here.

 

[Type Username Here]

"a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights"



lets not get carried away here.

It is a tragic day for those homosexuals in that country, not to mention all the people who will be accused of homosexual activity without evidence. Nothing good will come of it except for the religious to fulfill their bloodlust.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Hundreds of Africans die from hunger per day but yall are more worried about someone who loves sodomy.

Its so demonic, friends.

 

[Blackking]

It is a tragic day for those homosexuals in that country, not to mention all the people who will be accused of homosexual activity without evidence. Nothing good will come of it except for the religious to fulfill their bloodlust.

Inconsistency Killed the Cause: The West's Outcry Over Uganda is Too Little Too Late
The West has had years to criticise Museveni for rights abuses. The fact that condemnation is only coming now, and over gay rights, plays right into the wily old president's hands.

Museveni adopted a strong anti-imperialist stance. He invited the world's media to the bill's signing and told them that he is prepared for a “collision” with the West over the new law. He projected the homophobic law into the domain of foreign policy and claimed that Western support of gay rights is a form of “social imperialism”.

Predictably, the international community has responded with outrage. The US is conducting “an internal review” of its relationship with Uganda and President Barack Obama has strongly condemned Uganda's homophobic legislation. Meanwhile the EU has condemned the move, as have the UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague and International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

However, while Museveni's anti-imperialist stance in signing the bill and the West's human rights-supporting response have been notably dramatic, they have also − more importantly − been notably inconsistent.

It's easy enough to see the farcical contradiction in Museveni's anti-imperialist posture. He has been in power since 1986 and has been a staunch ally of the West − politically, economically, militarily − throughout his rule.

What may be more difficult to see is the similarly farcical inconsistency in the West's support of rights in Uganda. The anti-gay bill is hardly Museveni's first, worst, or likely to the be his last, assault on human freedoms.