HONORING IN MEMORY -- DAVID KATO: ¨Bishop Senyonjo spoke of David Kato as a selfless leader who served the gay community in Uganda to challenge discrimination and stigma for homosexuals.¨

The ¨fear meant to be instilled in the Ungandan Homosexual community after the death of David Kato (pictured above) is broken by God¨

¨Gay rights activists in Uganda on Thursday paid tribute to murdered gay rights defender, David Kato, one year after his murder.More than 100 activists, human rights defenders and allies to Uganda’s gay community remembered David Kato as a distinguished campaign for equality at a memorial service in held in Kampala.

His killer, Nsubuga Sydney, was sentenced to 30 years in jail on his own plea of guilty when charged with killing Kato.

Retired Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, the head of the St. Paul Reconciliation and Equality Centre (SPREC) and US based pastor, Joseph Tolton said the mass.

Kato’s mother, sisters and family members attended the function.

Known to the Ugandan LGBTI community as Nnalongo (mother of twins) Kato’s mother said she was thankful for the love extended to her in the last one year since her son’s death.

She said often Kato’s friends had shown her “love, care and compassion” whenever she had been depressed thinking of her son, and that this generosity of spirit had kept her going.

Bishop Senyonjo spoke of David Kato as a selfless leader who served the gay community in Uganda to challenge discrimination and stigma for homosexuals. “I respect you all homosexuals. And my message is a message of love as God’s children,” Bishop Senyonjo said during the sermon.

Pastor Tolton said he stood by the US Episcopalian Church’s inclusion of gay ministers in the church. He said, “The fear that was meant to be instilled in the Ugandan homosexual community after Kato’s death had been broken by God.”

Bishop Senyonjo said that Kato lives on, and that although he had been killed to instil fear among the Ugandan gay community, homosexuals had prevailed.

One after the other, friends of David Kato spoke of him as a leader saying he had leadership qualities worth emulating, while others prayed for his soul to rest in peace...¨  please read it all, HERE

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the day David Kato, a gay activist in Uganda, was beaten to death in his neighborhood with a hammer after his photo appeared in a local paper under the headline "Hang Them."

¨sexual preferences are a private matter¨ President Thabo Mbeki

¨The former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has risen to the defense of homosexuals in Uganda, saying the proposed Antihomosexuality Bill (now languishing in Uganda's Parliament) is irrelevant.¨

“I would say to the MP [David Bahati, mover of the bill]; sexual preferences are a private matter,” said Mbeki. “I don’t think it is a matter for the state to intervene.” Mbeki said he was certain that Bahati would disagree with his stand and argue that African culture does not permit same sex relations, a reason at the heart of the continent’s wide spread antipathy towards homosexuals.... HERE

·  Thanks to Black Looks, HERE
·  Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar
·  Thanks to The Rt. Rev. Christopher Ssenyonjo, Anglican Bishop, Uganda
·  Thanks to The Reverend Joseph Tolton
·  Thanks to Thabo Mbeki, Former President of South Africa
·  Thanks to Episcopal Cafe