Rare Court Victory for Unganda Gays

The past year has seen a steady wave of state-sanctioned, anti-gay hysteria in Uganda. There is finally some good news to report. A Kampala court rules the “continuing suppression” of gay and sexual minority rights groups is unconstitutional. The ruling is being celebrated as a landmark victory by the East African nation’s lgbt community.

Read the entire post at Rod 2.0!

Bush Linked to Anti-Gay Terrorist in Uganda

From a post on flamingpolitics.com.

Perhaps the title is a tad sensationalistic, however it is far from being as absurd as one would hope in this day and age that the United States of America would help fund dangerously violent homophobic groups in other countries. Of course, I am not claiming that the Bush Administration is providing funds to these groups for the express purpose of killing gays and lesbians, but rather the US government is doing nothing to assure that the recipients of American humanitarian aid are adhering to any kind of basic standard when it comes to the human rights of all of their citizens.

In a report on 365gay.com regarding further persecution on the part of the Ugandan government against its LGBT citizens:

“The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission last year said that it had uncovered evidence that the Bush administration has funded groups in Uganda that actively promote violence and discrimination against lesbians and gay men.”

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, however because of the lack of success in bringing charges, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has announced new legislation which would make it illegal to even be homosexual. Any person known to be gay or who openly acknowledges their homosexuality would be considered a criminal and be treated as such. Sadly, this stance is relatively enlightened compared to the that taken by the countries Christian and Muslim leaders who are actively calling for the complete eradication of homosexuality from Uganda by the assasination of any LGBT citizen. Ahhh, religion.

Read the rest of this at flamingpolitics.com.

You can also read how Uganda has recently stepped up Anti-Gay Laws here at GayAgenda.com.

Uganda Stepping Up Anti-Gay Laws

On Saturday, the Ugandan government said it would step up anti-gay laws and police operations against homosexuals because of the concern about the “mushrooming” number of gays and lesbians.

“The state of moral health in our nation is challenging and we are concerned about the mushrooming of lesbianism and homosexuality,” Ethics and Integrity Minister James Buturo told a news conference.

“Ten years ago, this phenomena was not there, but the disease has penetrated everywhere,” he added.

Same-sex intercourse and marriage is illegal in Uganda. The official sentence is life imprisonment.

Human Rights Activist Tortured in Uganda

On July 25, 2008, at 3:00 p.m., Ugandan police arrested and tortured a key Ugandan human rights activist–one of three who had been detained slightly more than a month ago while peacefully demonstrating for access to HIV services. Usaam Mukwaaya was on his way back from Friday prayers when he was stopped by a police patrol car and taken off a motorbike taxi that he had hired to transport him. Three men in police uniform and a fourth in civilian attire put Mukwaaya in the patrol car. He was driven to a building where he was led through a dark hall to an interrogation room, and aggressively questioned about the Ugandan LGBT movement. Mukwaaya was cut around the hands and tortured with a machine that applies extreme pressure to the body, preventing breathing and causing severe pain.

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)–a coalition of 3 LGBTI organizations in Uganda–and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) searched unsuccessfully for Mukwaaya from 3:00 p.m. on July 25 to the morning of July 26, 2008, inquiring as to his whereabouts at five police stations in Kampala. On July 26, 2008, at about 11:40 a.m., Mukwaaya was driven from the building where he’d been held for about 30 to 45 minutes and dumped. Shaken and bruised, he boarded a motorbike taxi to the city center and telephoned colleagues from SMUG who found him weak, filthy and without shoes and some of his clothing.

TAKE ACTION! The IGLHRC calls upon its partners and friends to join us in condemning the arrest and torture of Mukwaaya and the violation of LGBT human rights in Uganda by the government and its agents. Please send politely worded e-mails to the following Ugandan officials: museveni@starcom.co.ug.