MURDER IN KAMPALA/GAY IN UGANDA: ¨Many of us will get killed in the struggle,” Frank Mugisha

Archbishop Henry Orombi, The Anglican Church of Uganda, remains dead silent after the murder of Anglican LGBTI Activist David Kato

“If you’re gay you can be expelled,” Mugisha began, “your family can throw you out and the church can throw you out. And I love my faith.”

UGANDAN LEADER TALKS ABOUT LGBT OPPRESSION, DAVID KATO

The Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Art and Media hosted a presentation and conversation addressing LGBT activist efforts in Uganda as well as the current state of the country’s LGBT rights.

Frank Mugisha - photo: courtsey of Sara Slawnik

The presentation, held on Jan. 31 at Columbia College, fell just days after the brutal murder of David Kato, one of few openly gay activists in Uganda. Kato served as the litigation and advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an underground effort to restore basic human rights for the LGBT community in Uganda, a country notorious for its inhumane treatment of LGBT people.

“We’re not here tonight because David Kato was murdered,” said Jane Saks, executive director of the ESB Institute, “We’re here because he should be alive.”

Frank Mugisha, who serves as the current executive director of SMUG, sat in the first row as Saks recounted meeting the 27-year-old Mugisha a year prior in Kampala, Uganda, “I have grown to admire him as a leader,” she said of Mugisha, “as a young man making courageous decisions.” Saks introduced Mugisha, who approached the podium with a big smile, seemingly careless and worry-free.

“If you’re gay you can be expelled,” Mugisha began, “your family can throw you out and the church can throw you out. And I love my faith.” Mugisha grew up thinking he was alone and described trying everything to cure his homosexuality from laying out in the sun to hours of prayer. He soon realized that there was nothing he could to do to change, so he came out.

“When I got family support I said, ‘why can’t I also reach out and get support [from other people]?’ ” leading Mugisha to come out publicly. He met David Kato during a Ugandan court case where Kato spotted a smiling Mugisha from across the room. He insisted Mugisha become involved in his efforts to promote fair treatment for the LGBT community in Uganda. “He became a father to me in the movement,” Mugisha said of Kato. “He became a supporter of me in the movement.”

Mugisha was already en route to Chicago when he learned of Kato’s murder. Local authorities quickly dubbed the murder the result of a robbery, but Mugisha knew otherwise, “Many of us will get killed in the struggle,” he said nonchalantly much to the surprise of many in the crowd, most under the age of thirty. “David was hammered twice on the head. Neighbors came to the rescue but he died en route to the hospital.”

A statement issued by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Jan. 27 offered sympathy for the murder of Kato and promised continued support for LGBT rights in the United States on behalf of those abroad.

Mugisha maintained a calm demeanor as he described the horrors that befall LGBT citizens in Uganda, including a story of a girl who was repeatedly raped by relatives in order to “convert” her. The girl ended up pregnant, contracted HIV/AIDS and had to get an abortion. HERE

UPDATED: Sunday afternoon, 13 February 2011

During our conversation yesterday, my initial impression of David Bahati’s offer to come to Uganda, was, that it was probably rhetorical, and his threat to arrest me and “convert” me was offered as a dark jest.

Anglican MP David Bahati, author of ¨Kill the Gays¨ Bill before Parliament. Gay scape-goating employed to divert attention from the real Ugandan truth- there is no democracy in Uganda

¨During our conversation yesterday, my initial impression of David Bahati’s offer to come to Uganda, was, that it was probably rhetorical, and his threat to arrest me and “convert” me was offered as a dark jest.


But, after reviewing the context my past contacts with him and tone in which he said those things to me yesterday, I am now sure that he has become completely obsessed over the gay press coverage reporting on the situation in Uganda and Bahati was serious in both his offer to go to Uganda and his threat to arrest and “convert” me.


Is it David Bahati’s intention to lure me to his country and force me, by whatever mean necessarily, to give his world view of homosexuality? Lacking that, I believe he thought he could coerce me into favorable reports. He tried long enough, over the phone- to no avail.


Shortly after my discussion I received a message from a friend who had been kidnapped and horribly tortured - over night, in Uganda - intimidated into withdrawing his campaigning for the opposition Party in the upcoming election. My friend is in great pain and terror. Even though this has nothing to do with being gay, per se, I have now been exposed to the lie first hand – that there will never be a fair and free election and that Uganda’s beauty is duly masked by Museveni, Bahati, government backed tabloids, and the gay scape-goating employed to divert attention from the real Ugandan truth- there is no democracy in Uganda!

I am likewise now sure, with no shade of doubt in my mind, that David Bahati is a very dangerous man, empowered with drafting legislation that could obstruct Uganda’s progress as a global player and also a clear motivator for more murder and mayhem in Africa. HERE

¨...there will never be a fair and free election and that Uganda’s beauty is duly masked by Museveni, Bahati, government backed tabloids, and the gay scape-goating employed to divert attention from the real Ugandan truth- there is no democracy in Uganda¨



There is NO Democracy in Uganda

·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, sidebar
·  Thanks to Frank Mugisha
·  Thanks to Jane Saks

·  Thanks to The Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Art and Media
·  Thanks to Sara Slawnik, Photo/Frank Mugisha
·  Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar
·  Thanks to Paul Canning,