Gay Uganda News & Reports 2008

Also see:
Behind the Mask LGBT African website
S.M.U.G. Uganda’s Gay Lesbian Alliance
Gay Uganda
Uganda Blogspot
Gay Kampala personals
GalaUganda

SMUG HIV – AIDS Report 2008
SMUG HIV – AIDS – Report Appendix – V Same Sex Sexual Behavior. HIV and Health Care in Uganda
SMUG HIV – AIDS- Report Appendix – IV Gay and Bi Men and HIV in Kampala, Uganda

1 Tutu calls on Ugandans to protect LGBT community 2/08

2 African lesbian conference demands equal rights 2/08

3 Plight of Gays in Belarus, Iraq and Uganda to be Highlighted at IDAHO 2008 2/08

4 Gay Africans and Arabs come out online 2/08

5 Integrity uganda challenges mother’s union for neglecting gay issues 3/08

6 Gays excluded from HIV work in Uganda 6/08

7 LGBT Activists Arrested at International HIV/AIDS Meeting in Kampala 6/08

8 Pro-Gay Activists Arrested At Aids Meet 6/08

8a Speakers at HIV/AIDS Meeting in Uganda Call for Increased HIV Prevention 6/08

9 From: Frank Mugisha Co-Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) 6/08

10 Uganda’s LRA rebels preparing for war 6/08 (non-gay background story)

10a Another gay asylum seeker to be sent back to torture or death 6/08

11 Ugandan bishop attacks European attitude towards gays 6/08

12 Drop charges against the Uganda Three, demands human rights group 6/08

13 The ‘Homo Terror’ in Uganda 6/08

14 New IRIN film: ‘Love, Positively’ – coming of age with HIV in Uganda 6/08

15 Court dismisses charges against two Transgender Men in Uganda 7/08

16 Tatchell attacked at meeting of Anglican dissidents 7/08

17 Hope for Ugandan lesbian’s asylum appeal 7/08

18 Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders court hearing adjourned to Sept  7/08

19 Concern for missing Ugandan gay rights activist 7/08

20 Police Arrest, Torture and Release SMUG Human Rights Activist 7/08

21 Book review: How solutions lie in The Wisdom of Whores 7/08

22 AIDS Commission Chief says homosexuality must be stamped out in schools 8/08

22a Genocide by Denial 9/08

23 Ssempa rewarded for anti-gay crusade 9/08

24 Gay man refuses deportation to Uganda 9/08

24a Same sex attraction is not a disease 9/08

25 Border agency accused of "illegal" deportation of gay Ugandan 9/08

26 Demand An End To Official Harassment of LGBT Activists 9/08

27 Gay Hunting – Govt Loses the Plot 9/08

28 Controversial Ugandan minister launches anti-gay tirade 10/08

29 Gays motivated by greed, Ugandan bishop tells school 10/08

30 Ugandan lesbian granted asylum in UK 10/08

31 Global Financial Crisis Could Hamper Uganda’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS 10/08

32 Ugandan judge rules in favour of LGBT activists 12/08

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6979.htmlpinknews.co.uk

27th February 2008

1
Tutu calls on Ugandans to protect LGBT community

by Tony Grew
The former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu has joined 120 Christian and Jewish leaders in a call to the government of Uganda to stop homophobia in the country. In a letter to President Yoweri Museveni they demanded an end to "verbal assaults and legal attacks of your government on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) people." Most of the signatories were clergy in the Metropolitan Community Church, the world’s largest and oldest Christian denomination with an affirming ministry to LGBT people.

"All religious traditions demand that we care for the neighbour and the oppressed among us and that we uphold the dignity of every person," they wrote. "No one should have to live in fear simply because of who they are. As a moral leader we know that you do not wish to see Uganda citizens suffer unnecessarily, and we are therefore asking you to call an end to the witch hunt against the most vulnerable in your community. We are particularly concerned that members of your government have called for criminal action against people solely because of whom they love and have censored and silenced attempts by LGBT people to speak on their own behalf. These actions only promote fear, profound isolation and invisibility."

Last year Ugandan deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi called for the criminal law to be used against lesbians and gays.

Section 140 of Uganda’s penal code carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for homosexual conduct, while Section 141 punishes ‘attempts’ at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years of imprisonment.

Section 143 punishes acts of "gross indecency" with up to five years in prison, while a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of 14 years to life imprisonment.

The Rev. Pat Bumgardner, chair of the Global Justice Ministry of Metropolitan Community Churches, said: "I share a deep concern with many faith leaders that this hostility by Uganda’s government officials comes in the midst of the HIV and AIDS pandemic that still ravages so much of the African continent. The pandemic will be addressed effectively only in an environment where human rights are promoted and basic freedoms are protected. Stigma and discrimination push people deeper into closets of fear, making prevention and treatment much more difficult."

A poll in August 2007 found that 95% of Ugandans want homosexual acts to remain illegal. Government officials have regularly threatened and harassed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. In 2005 Uganda became the first country in the world to introduce laws banning same-sex marriage. Last summer an organisation called Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a coalition of four LGBT organisations, launched a campaign called "Let us Live in Peace." At a press conference in Kampala on August 16th, the group condemned discrimination and violence against LGBT people, as well as the life-threatening silence about their sexualities in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.

In response, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo told the BBC on August 17th that homosexuality was "unnatural." He denied charges of police harassment of LGBT people, but also declared, "We know them, we have details of who they are." In the wake of the SMUG press conference, Pastor Martin Ssempa organised an August 21 rally in Kampala to address what he called "a call for action on behalf of victims of homosexuality." Calling homosexuality "a criminal act against the laws of nature," Ssempa led hundreds of demonstrators demanding government action against LGBT people.

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6974.html

27th February 2008

2
African lesbian conference demands equal rights

by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
Lesbians from across Africa have held a conference in Mozambique to highlight the homophobia and prejudice they face across the continent. Most nations in Africa criminalise same-sex relationships and in some countries gay people can be put to death. The Coalition of African Lesbians conference was attended by more than 100 delegates.

Women from 14 African countries gathered in Namibia’s capital Windhoek in August 2004 to develop the Coalition of African Lesbians. Lesbian organisations and a number of individual women from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia are members of the organisation. "Our main goal is that lesbian and homosexuality can no longer be seen as a criminal offence," the group’s director and conference spokeswoman Fikile Vilakazi told Reuters. "You should not be arrested and charged for how you use your own body."

The coalition lobbies for political, legal social, sexual, cultural and economic rights of African lesbians by engaging strategically with African and international structures and allies and to eradicate stigma and discrimination against lesbians. South Africa, one of the few countries on the continent where gay men and lesbians are allowed to marry and legally protected from discrimination, has been rocked by several murders of prominent lesbian activists.

Sizakele Sigasa, 34, an activist for HIV/AIDS and LGBT rights, and Salome Masooa, 24, were discovered dead at field in Soweto, Johannesburg, on July 8th. They had both been shot and, it is suspected, raped. On 22nd July Thokozane Qwabe, 23, was found in a field in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal with multiple head wounds. She was naked and it is thought she was also raped.

ukgaynews.org.uk
http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/08/Feb/2701.htm

February 27, 2008

3
Plight of Gays in Belarus, Iraq and Uganda to be Highlighted at IDAHO 2008 Launch
Government ministers will attend London College of Fashion launch
Minister for Skills David Lammy MP will be addressing the UK IDAHO launch.

London – Government ministers, mayoral candidates, students and academics, national and international LGBT campaigners, a lesbian singer/songwriter, who according to one reviewer performs like “Mary Poppins on acid” are all gearing up for the IDAHO-UK 2008 launch event at the London College of Fashion, which will take place, on the evening of March 13. Students on the Design for Graphic Communication course at the University of Arts, London have designed double sided broadsheet posters to encourage UK campaigners to arrange events for the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17, and the winning posters will be displayed at the event.

Derek Lennard, IDAHO-UK Coordinator, who has chosen the four winning posters, says that they are “very exciting and innovative”.

Appropriately enough, David Lammy, Minister for Skills, and MP for Tottenham, will be handing out the prizes to the students and making a speech at the event. He will be joined by Minister for Equality, Barbara Follett, and Linda Bellos, former leader of Lambeth Council, who works on mainstreaming equality and diversity in the British Army and Metropolitan Police. London Mayoral candidates are also well represented at the event. Neil Young will be reading a message of support for the IDAHO campaign and the event from Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London.

Richard Barnes the Conservative Leader on the London Assembly, Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor, and Sian Berry, the Green candidate will also be speaking. Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of IDAHO will explain the priorities of the 2008 campaign, Pastor Kiyimba Brown will describe how he set up an IDAHO Chapter in Uganda, Ali Hilli founder of Iraqi LGBT will highlight the gravity of the situation for LGBT activists in Iraq, and Bill Schiller of the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network will graphically describe the plight of the LGBT community in Belarus.

Amnesty International will also be represented. Niranjan Kamatlkar, Artistic Director of Wise Thoughts will look at creative ways to address homophobia and transphobia in the UK, and a representative from the East London Out Project will talk on the theme of the IDAHO campaign this year “Lesbian Rights and Sexism”. Finally, Sue Sanders will display the work undertaken by students for Schools Out and LGBT History Month.

There will also be plenty of time for relaxing, mingling and networking in the luxurious setting of the Rootstein Hopkins Space, and a chance to see the student’s work, enjoy the canapés and wine, and undergo the Lorraine Bowen experience. It is hoped that Ms Bowen will perform a song from her new CD, “Vital Organs”.

“We hope this event will be inspiring, thought provoking and enjoyable and inspire campaigners to plan events for IDAHO,” said Mr. Lennard.

The Guardian, Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters

February 19, 2008

(Editing by Andrew Dobbie and Sara Ledwith)

Behind the Mask
http://www.mask.org.za/printpage.php?id=1838

March 25, 2008

5
Integrity uganda challenges mother’s union for neglecting gay issues

by Nthateng Mhlambiso (BTM Senior Reporter)
David Kato of Integrity Uganda, a faith based Christian organisation which attempts to clarify that the bible does not condemn same-sex relationships, challenged the Mother’s Union for failing to engage in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people’s affairs in Uganda. In last month’s letter addressed to the president of the Mother’s Union Debra Sengendo, Kato expressed his dismay towards the union as it seems to neglect LGBTI people regarding families upbringing as its main preaching. He said such preaching in churches disbands families especially the LGBTI families as parents would neglect their LGBTI children.

He also emphasised that if there’s silence within such families there would always be abuse such as rapes on LGBTI children and dismissals “from schools in the name of religion and they are refused a place in the house of the very God who created them.” He added that lack of reception and understanding by the Mother’s Union, and excluding gay issues forced LGBTI children to poverty because they are thrown out of homes, workplaces, schools and churches. He also said that the attitudes towards LGBTI children have been fuelling HIV infections. According to Kato, the ‘extreme’ conditions of poverty, rejection, hunger and hostility lure children into ‘evils’ such as suicide, terrorist tendencies and extreme hooliganism.

“Such a result is contrary to the transformation that Mother’s Union aims to achieve as per their 2001-2010 commitment to a culture of peace and non-violence for all the children of the world.” He said in the letter. He requests that the Mother’s Union addresses the needs of LGBTI children by acknowledging their different sexuality and show them love. When Behind The Mask contacted Sengendo, she said that she had not received the letter. However, Kato said that Sengendo requested Integrity Uganda to first explain what the acronym LGBTI meant and that the organisation had to explain clearly what it wanted the Mothers Union to do for it.

“I asked if she could make an appointment with us and we visit her office for a dialogue which she welcomed, but being too busy she proposed only on a Saturday”, Kato said so also indicating that they still need to meet with the Mothers Union.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7789.html

June 2, 2008

6
Gays excluded from HIV work in Uganda

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
The head of Uganda’s AIDS commission has claimed that gay people are driving up the number of infections in the country, but said they would not be targeted with prevention work. Kihumuro Apuuli claimed a lack of money prevents him from giving any attention or treatment to gay people. Instead soldiers, prostitutes and the transient workforce will be targeted. More than a million of Uganda’s 27 million people are already HIV+. "Gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time," Mr Apuuli, chairman of the Uganda AIDS Commission, said today.

Government officials have regularly threatened and harassed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. In 2005 Uganda became the first country in the world to introduce laws banning same-sex marriage. Section 140 of Uganda’s penal code carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for homosexual conduct, while Section 141 punishes ‘attempts’ at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years of imprisonment. Section 143 punishes acts of "gross indecency" with up to five years in prison, while a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of 14 years to life imprisonment.

Last year James Nsaba Buturo, the country’s Minister for Ethics and Integrity, said the government is committed to stopping LGBT people "trying to impose a strange, ungodly, unhealthy, unnatural, and immoral way of life on the rest of our society." The leading Muslim cleric in Uganda, Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje, has come up with a novel solution to deal with gay and lesbians speaking up in the country. He told journalists he had recommended to the country’s President at a meeting that all gay people should be sent into exile on an island in Lake Victoria. "If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country," he added.

There has been rising tension in the country over gay and lesbian rights. Trans people are also targeted by police and regularly subject to abuse and harassment. In August 2007 activists in spoke out about the prejudice LGBT people face in the country. 30 people gave a press conference drawing attention to the state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia they face every day. They called themselves the "homosexual children of God" and demanded that attacks on LGBT people stop.

Three months ago the former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu joined 120 Christian and Jewish leaders in a call to the government of Uganda to stop homophobia in the country. In a letter to President Yoweri Museveni they demanded an end to "verbal assaults and legal attacks of your government on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) people."

IGLHRC, New York

June 4, 2008

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today condemned the arrests of three Ugandan LGBT activists and called for their immediate and unconditional release.

The three — Onziema Patience, (an FTM transgender, 28), Valentine Kalende (female, age 27) and Auf (male, age 26) — were arrested yesterday morning by the Uganda Police Force at the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting currently taking place in Kampala, Uganda. Along with other LGBT and HIV and AIDS activists, they were peacefully protesting statements made by a Ugandan government official that no funds would be directed toward HIV programs targeting men who have sex with men. SMUG and IGLHRC have fears for the safety of the three activists.

In November 2004, the Ugandan government fined a local broadcaster, Radio Simba for airing a program that discussed anti-gay discrimination and the need for HIV/AIDS services for lesbians and gay men. The government claimed that Radio Simba had violated federal law promoting broadcasting that is contrary to "public morality."

New Vision (Kampala)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806050114.html

4 June 2008

8
Pro-Gay Activists Arrested At Aids Meet

by Arthur Baguma And Patrick Ogwang
Kampala – Gay rights demonstrators beat security and sneaked into the venue of a global HIV/AIDS meeting at the Imperial Royale Hotel yesterday but ended up under Police arrest. A woman and two men beat the security detail and sneaked with placards and a 67-page document soliciting for funding of their activities in Uganda. The activists, now detained at Jinja Road Police Station, were identified as Pepe Juliana Onzema, a freelance journalist, Usaam Mukwaaya and Valantini Katende. Police spokesperson Simeo Nsubuga described them as intruders. "We are looking at a case of criminal trespass against them. They are not delegates and were not invited. They did not have accreditation cards." The suspects, he said, had placards calling on the participants to consider gays in the planning and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

"Gay Ugandans also need HIV prevention", read one placard. Another said: "Since 1983 up to 2008 zero shillings to HIV prevention for gay Ugandans". Anti-gay campaigner Pastor Martin Sempa termed the incident as unfortunate. "These people are illegal. They are in a wrong place and a wrong forum. In Uganda, we don’t have a place for such people." Earlier, the demonstrators managed to distribute their document to some of the delegates, drawn from across the globe. In the paper, the gays urged the donors and other funding agencies to help reduce the rate of infection and to alleviate the suffering of anyone infected and affected by AIDS. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda under the Penal Code and is categorized as an unnatural practice. Ethics minister Dr. Nsaba Buturo has condemned gay activities.

The document said the gays are organised under four organisations namely Freedom and Roam Uganda, Integrity Uganda, Icebreakers Uganda and Spectrum Initiatives Uganda. The meeting opened on Tuesday and drew over 1,700 participants from over 70 countries. President Yoweri Museveni opened the conference. He called for a focus on building capacity for local HIV prevention, treatment and care.

Uganda (full text)

Kaisernetwork.org, Washington, DC
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806040822.html

Jun 04, 2008

8a
Speakers at HIV/AIDS Meeting in Uganda Call for Increased HIV Prevention

Conference delegates on Tuesday at the opening of the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, called on countries to increase HIV prevention methods in order to fight complacency about the disease, Xinhuanet reports. Some HIV/AIDS experts speaking at the conference said that although countries have started recording lower HIV/AIDS rates, most responses do not pay enough attention to prevention. UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said that although "87% of countries in the world have established clear and ambitious goals for HIV treatment, only about 50% have targets for HIV prevention therapy." He added, "There is no room for complacency. AIDS is not done; the epidemic is not under control. For every two persons who are put on treatment, five are infected" with HIV.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who opened the conference, attributed the complacency about the disease to the provision of antiretroviral treatment, which some people view as a cure for the disease. He said that HIV/AIDS messages should be repackaged, adding that he does not want to give people living with the disease "false security" that antiretroviral drugs are a cure. Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS coordinator who administers the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, added that countries should take HIV prevention as seriously as HIV/AIDS treatment (Xinhuanet, 6/4). This year’s conference — which has the theme "Scaling Up Through Partnerships: Overcoming Obstacles to Implementation" — aims to share lessons learned in the fight against HIV/AIDS with a focus on increasing prevention, treatment and care. The conference also aims to build local capacity and bolster coordination between partners. Participants will focus on several issues, including human capacity development, connecting people with resources, coordination, integrating services, and the impact of monitoring and evaluation. In addition, the conference will focus on developing future directions for HIV/AIDS programs by focusing on implementation, identifying barriers and integrating best practices (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/3).

Archived webcasts from the meeting will be available online at kaisernetwork.org.

Note: see Reports 6,7,8 on this page to read about SMUG activists’ protesting against Uganda neglecting to include gays and MSM for HIV/AIDS prevention education.

9
From: Frank Mugisha
Co-Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)

June 6, 2008

Dear All,

The 3 Ugandan LGBT activists that were arrested at the HIV Implementers’ Meeting in Kampala on the 4th of June 2008, have been released on bail this morning. The charges against them have not been dropped. They have been charged with Criminal Tresspass, under Section 302 of the Uganda Penal Code. All have pleaded "not guilty" and were released on a bail of 500, 000 UGX (310 USD), not in cash. The case was adjourned to the 20th of June 2008.

NOTE: The charges against the 3 activists have not been dropped. Please continue contacting the following people to request them to drop all charges against the activists:

President Yoweri Museveni
*President of the Republic of Uganda *
State House Nakasero
P.O. Box 24594
Kampala, Uganda
Telephone: +256 (0) 414 343 311
Fax: +256 (0) 414 436 102
E-mail: museveni@starcom. co.ug, aak@statehouse. go.ug

Hon. Dr. Edward Kiddu Makubuya
*Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Attorney General*
Parliament Avenue
P.O.Box 7183
Kampala, Uganda
Telephone: +256 (0) 414 230 538
Fax: +256 (0) 414 254 829
E-mail: mojca@africaonline. co.ug

Kale Kaihura
*Inspector General of Police*
Telephone: +256 (0) 712 755 999

radionetherlands.nl
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/5820705/Ugandas-LRA-rebels-preparing-for-war

07 June 2008

10
Uganda’s LRA rebels preparing for war

Rebels of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army are reportedly preparing a new offensive. The Sudanese authorities say LRA rebels attacked the village of Nabanga in the south of the country. Around 23 people, including 14 Sudanese soldiers, were killed. Nabanga was the site of peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government. The conflict between the LRA rebels and the government has lasted for more than 20 years. After protracted peace negotiations, an accord was to be signed in April, but rebel leader Joseph Kony failed to show up. Recently, there have been reports that the LRA is forcibly recruiting new fighters and wants to take up arms again. Uganda has agreed with neighbouring Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo to jointly act against the LRA. However, Ugandan Archbishop John Odama warned that a failure to achieve peace would destabilise the region and reverse the progress made during the peace talks.

paulcanning.blogspot.com
http://paulcanning.blogspot.com/2008/06/another-gay-asylum-seeker-to-be-sent.html

June 8, 2008

10a
Another gay asylum seeker to be sent back to torture or death

The Home Office wants to send another gay asylum seeker back to torture and possible death — and is again claiming that ‘discretion’ means they can do it. Prossy Kakooza is a 26-year-old lesbian woman who fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation. She has an English Literature degree and would like to teach here. Uganda’s government is violently anti-gay, newspapers and religious groups are engaged in witch hunts and asylum campaigners have reported that returnees on arrival in Kampala have been immediately taken to a torture centre. While in prison Kakooza was subjected to multiple rapes and branded with red hot meat skewers on her thighs by drunken police officers.

"I’m still receiving counseling at a rape crisis centre," she said. "I have nightmares every night and I don’t think I will ever get over what happened to me." Kakooza also said that she often thinks of her girlfriend, Leah, who remains in prison. "I was lucky I got out. I can’t bear to think of what is happening to her there."

The Home Office has done this before to gay Ugandan torture victims. For example, in 2005 Kizza Musinguzi who was jailed by the Ugandan government for his gay human rights work and subjected to four months of forced labour, water torture, beatings and rape faced the Home Office saying that the abuse he was subject to did not constitute persecution. In Harmondsworth asylum detention centre he was abused and denied medical treatment. There is considerable evidence that asylum seekers have been subjected to severe physical abuse from contractors hired by Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith’s Home Office.

UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group carries many harrowing stories of the UK’s treatment of gay asylum seekers like Prossy. Most of those returned simply disappear to unknown fates. Others have committed suicide here rather than be returned.

Makes you proud to be British.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7895.html

June 10, 2008

11
Ugandan bishop attacks European attitude towards gays

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
An Anglican bishop has urged the government of Uganda to keep homosexuality illegal. Eria Paul Luzinda of the Mukono diocese said that "not all that comes from Europe is superior and must be taken up."

"I have been hearing that gays are demanding that the government should legalise their activities," Bishop Luzinda said, according to the Daily Monitor. This is absurd because God created a man and woman so that they can produce and fill this world. The government should not be tempted to legalise this backward culture which is bound to destroy this country."

In 2007 Bishop Luzinda condemned the decriminalisation of adultery by the Ugandan Constitutional Court. Last week three gay rights activists forced their way into an international conference about HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda. Their protest was sparked when the head of Uganda’s AIDS commission said that gay people are driving up the number of infections in the country, but would not be targeted with prevention work. The international meeting was organised by an international group including the US, the World Bank, the UN. More than a million of Uganda’s 27 million people are already HIV+.

The three protesters have been released from jail but are to face charges. Uganda’s penal code carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for homosexual conduct, while ‘attempts’ at carnal knowledge get seven years of imprisonment. A poll in August 2007 found that 95% of Ugandans want homosexual acts to remain illegal. Government officials have regularly threatened and harassed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans.

In 2005 Uganda became the first country in the world to introduce laws banning same-sex marriage. Last summer an organisation called Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a coalition of four LGBT organisations, launched a campaign called "Let us Live in Peace." At a press conference in Kampala the group condemned discrimination and violence against LGBT people, as well as the life-threatening silence about their sexualities in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.

In response, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo told the BBC that homosexuality was "unnatural." He denied charges of police harassment of LGBT people, but also declared, "We know them, we have details of who they are."

In response to the SMUG press conference the first anti-gay rally in the country’s history and was organised by the Uganda Joint Christian Council. UJCC member churches include the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church of Uganda.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7941.html

June 12, 2008

12
Drop charges against the Uganda Three, demands human rights group

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
Three gay rights activists arrested after demonstrating at an international conference in Uganda should not be charged, say Human Rights Watch. Onziema Patience, Valentine Kalende, and Usaam Mukwaaya made their voices heard at the HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting last week. While they have now been released from jail, they are due in court on June 20th on charges of criminal trespass. HRW reports: "co-sponsors of the Implementers Meeting later provided the activists with appropriate accreditation, the police detained one of the activists for over four hours and charged him with "forgery of documents." Amnesty UK’s director said last week that she considered them to be prisoners of conscience, detained for their peaceful activism. Their protest was sparked when the head of Uganda’s AIDS commission said that gay people are driving up the number of infections in the country, but would not be targeted with prevention work.

The international meeting was organised by a group of countries and organisation, among them the US, the World Bank, the UN. Their treatment "shows the Ugandan government’s determination to enforce silence around sexuality and HIV/AIDS," HRW said in a letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General Edward Kiddu Makubuya. HRW wants the Ugandan government to drop all charges against the three and to stop future arrests and prosecution of activists working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Silence around HIV/AIDS kills," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Programme at HRW. "LGBT people do not ‘drive’ HIV in Uganda, but they have driven many community-based responses. They deserve recognition and inclusion, not repression and jail. When police silence voices defending public health, the only winner is the virus. Uganda’s once-praised HIV prevention efforts are giving way to prejudice and fear."

Daily Queer News
http://www.dailyqueernews.com/news/589/

June 16, 2008

13
The ‘Homo Terror’ in Uganda

by Toby Grace | Out In Jersey
Recently, the world-wide campaign to prevent the British Home Office from deporting Mahdi Kazemi, a 19 year old gay Iranian student whose visa had expired, back to certain death at the hands of Iranian authorities was met with success when Home Office officials bowed to activist pressure and granted a five year asylum visa. Mahdi had been revealed as gay when his boyfriend’s father discovered their email correspondence and turned his own son over to Iranian police to be tortured and executed. There could be little doubt that Mahdi would have suffered the same fate, had he been repatriated.

Fortunately, Mahdi was able to connect with a small but very dedicated organization called Gay Asylum UK and with internationally known gay rights activist Peter Tatchell. An internet and media campaign was quickly organized, including an on-line petition that garnered approximately 8,000 signatures from people all over the planet. The campaign resulted in the story being featured by every major British and European news outlet, both print and broadcast, as well as CNN. A resolution of support was passed by the European Parliament and, in the U.K., 63 members of the House of Lords petitioned the Home office.

While the campaign to save Mahdi was a success, it evidently failed to produce substantive changes in Home Office policy. Gay Asylum is now working with a U. K. Metropolitan Community Church on the case of Prossy Kakooza, a 26-year-old woman who fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation.

From: IRIN/PlusNews http://www.plusnews.org
http://www.irinnews.org

27 June 2008

14
New IRIN film: ‘Love, Positively’ – coming of age with HIV in Uganda

IRIN/PlusNews is pleased to announce the release of its latest short documentary film, ‘Love, Positively’.

Uganda is home to a growing number of young adults who were born HIV-positive and have lived their entire lives with the virus. Love, Positively follows the lives of four young adults living in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, who were infected at birth but, against the odds, are alive and well. It explores some of the challenges they faced growing up with HIV and how they view their future lives and current relationships. Read more: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78926

As with all IRIN films, the aim of this film is to increase awareness and understanding of humanitarian crises. IRIN creates advocacy material but remains dependant on partners for the widest possible dissemination of its products. Limited DVD copies are available free of charge. While we will try to meet demand, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide copies to all who request. To order a copy, please click on the following link: http://www.irinnews.org/filmorders/filmorders.asp The film can also be viewed on our website: http://www.irinnews.org/film

From:
Frank Mugisha , Co-Chairperson, Sexual Minorities Uganda – SMUG

July 1, 2008

15
Court dismisses charges against two Transgender Men in Uganda.

On Friday 27th June, 2008. The Grade II Magistrate court of Makindye – Kampala Uganda dismissed charges of Public Nuisance filed by Police against two Transgender Men in Uganda. Background On 11th May, 2008. George Oundo aka Georgina and Dadi Umutunguha transgender men (MTF) – male to female, were arrested at a Uganda pub, taken to Police and detained until the 13th of May.2008. Sexual Minorities Uganda – SMUG, was informed at 15:00hrs on the, 13th of May 2008.

When Georgina telephoned David Kato board member of SMUG and crisis intervener, David informed Frank Mugisha Co-Chairperson – SMUG, arrangements were made immediately leading to Georgina and Dadi’s release on Police Bond at 19:30hrs on the13th of May 2008, the two transgender men were asked to report back on 15th May. 2008. On Friday 15th May. 2008, the two transgender men were taken to court and charged with a criminal offence of Public Nuisance, they received court bail and hearing was adjourned for 2nd June. 2008. When they appeared in court on 2nd June. 2008, the Police file with their case was not in court and there were no state witnesses. Hearing was again adjourned for 27th May 2008. On 27th June. 2008, the chief magistrate dismissed the case due to luck of enough evidence to try the two transgender men.

Comments:
Transgender people face the most hate crimes in Uganda, Georgina and Dadi narrated to SMUG; that they were beaten and tortured by police officers and also continuously harassed, abused/insulted for being homosexuals while in Police custody and that inmates wanted to sexually assault them. Though the case has been dismissed by court and the two transgender men have changed place of residence, Georgina and Dadi still face threats from the community. SMUG would like to extend gratitude to partners and friends who helped us during this time with moral support and legal aid.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8198.html

July 2, 2008

16
Tatchell attacked at meeting of Anglican dissidents

by T’Kisha George
A gay activist who was violently removed from a conference held by "breakaway Anglicans" has accused them of fueling homophobic witch-hunts. Peter Tatchell and two fellow protesters were trying to get into yesterday’s conference, hosted by newly-formed Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FOCA), at All Souls Church in central London when they were attacked. FOCA opposes the recognition of same-sex relationships and female bishops. "This breakaway Anglican faction is fundamentalist, homophobic and sexist," Mr Tatchell said. "It opposes equal rights for women and gay people, and is allied with hardline church leaders whose bigoted teachings are fueling anti-gay witch-hunts in many countries."

The human rights campaigner was joined by Brett Lock, from gay rights group OutRage, and Christian and Ugandan gay rights activist, Kizza Musinguzi. When they tried to enter the church, they were physically ejected and Mr Tatchell said he was punched in the chest by a church steward. Mr Tatchell and supporters unfolded their banners, reading "Church of Hate! Stop Crucifying Queers!," "Defend gays, fight Christian bigots" and "Anglicans Repent Your Homophobia", once they were outside the building.

750 clergy and churchwardens attended the conference, addressed by the Archbishop Gregory Venables from South America, Archbishop Peter Jensen from Sydney and Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi. Archbishop Orombi has starred in his own drama in the past, excommunicating heterosexual bishop Christopher Senyonjo because he defended gay people against persecution. He has stirred up trouble in Uganda where violence and hatred against gays is rife, which led to the imprisonment and torture of Mr Musinguzi.

"The church is supposed to be all-loving," said Mr Musinguzi, who is currently seeking asylum in the UK. "It is not acceptable that it has one set of rights for straight Christians and a lesser set of rights for gay Christians. When Archbishop Orombi takes a stand against gay people, he signals to the population that it is ok to discriminate against gay people. Gay people in Uganda face imprisonment, torture and mob violence. Many are driven out of their communities and left destitute. The government excludes gay people from its HIV programmes, leaving them to die without medication. The Church of Uganda is exacerbating this homophobia, neglect and persecution."

Mr Tatchell added that the Archbishop of Nigeria is backing the state-sponsored persecution of lesbians and gays in Nigeria and is orchestrating a victimisation campaign against the Nigerian gay Christian leader Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria. "Jesus Christ is recorded in The Bible as condemning many sins but he never once condemned homosexuality," said Mr Tatchell. "The anti-gay campaign of the breakaway Anglican leaders is a perversion of Christ’s gospel of love and compassion. These splitters are Old Testament fundamentalists, not true followers of Jesus Christ."

Frequent spats concerning gay priests and female bishops have rocked the General Synod of the Church of England, with fears of a split. FOCA was founded at a recent conference held in Jerusalem which defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office said yesterday it would not comment as it did not want to pre-empt the next General Synod meeting.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8219.html

July 4, 2008

17
Hope for Ugandan lesbian’s asylum appeal

by Stephanie Phillips
A Ugandan lesbian has moved one step closer to her goal for asylum in the UK after a senior immigration judge dismissed the previous tribunal as a ‘mess.’ Prossy Kakooza, 26, fled Uganda after her family found her in bed with her partner, who she had met at university, and marched both women naked to the police station where Prossy was raped and tortured by police officers. She escaped to the UK after her family bribed the guards to release her so they could have her killed. They believed this would ‘take away the curse from the family.’ The news of Prossy’s fight for asylum comes as Peter Tatchell spoke out against the government yesterday at the TUC LGBT conference. He called on them to make ‘urgent’ reforms to the asylum system and stop gay refugees being sent back to ‘viciously homophobic countries such as Iran, Uganda, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Jamaica, Belarus and Saudi Arabia.’

Mr Tatchell urged the government to implement five policy changes to ensure fair hearings for LGBT asylum seekers. These changes included asylum staff receiving training in sexual orientation and transgender awareness, the government telling asylum staff that homophobic and transphobic persecution are grounds for granting asylum and the official Home Office country information reports being upgraded to include the true scale of homophobic persecution. Mr Tatchell said: "These are systemic failings by a callous and indifferent government that is more interested in cutting asylum numbers than in ensuring a fair, just and compassionate asylum system."

The Home Office’s first decision to deny Prossy asylum did not take into account the fact that she had been mistreated by the state and would probably face the same treatment again if she returned. The Home Office believed that she was raped and tortured, because of the medical evidence, but dismissed her attack as the ‘random acts of individuals’ and suggested that she could move to another town in Uganda.

In Uganda you cannot move to another town without a reference from your previous village and since she is a lesbian she would be persecuted wherever she went. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and the penalty is life in prison. The new ruling will allow Prossy to present her case again to the asylum tribunal which is likely to take place in the autumn.

From: admin@sexualminoritiesuganda.org
To: Golbalgayz.com

8th July, 2008

18
Update: Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders court hearing adjourned to 9th.07.2008

The three Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders that were arrested and detained on the 4th of June 2008 and charged with criminal trespass, appeared in court today Tuesday the 8th of July 2008 at 9:30 am, at the Buganda Road Magistrate’s court in Kampala – Uganda.

The state provided a witness, one Police officer, detective constable P. Nicholas attached to Central Police Station. This state witness told court that he arrested the 3 LGBT HIV/AIDS activists at the implementers meeting on 4th of June 2008 at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala and handed them to 999 Police, who later delivered them to Jinja Road Police station. He said he arrested the three because they did not have official invitation cards admitting them to the conference. He further told court that the 3 activists had placards that were written on: “gays are also Ugandans” and the other reading, “Since 1983 to 2008 no shilling for gays”. The witness also told court that he later found out, that the three activists had been invited and given special invitation cards by the US Ambassador and the organizers, who insisted that the activists should attend the meeting. However he strongly emphasized that even when the activists reappeared at the conference, they were not allowed to attend the main conference on the directives of the Director of AIDS Commission Dr, kihumuro Apuuli He further said, that the ambassador got the trio a special room where they had meetings with some committees .The defense lawyer for the three LGBTI activists crossed examined the state witness and in his cross examination, he put to the witness that the state had used him to harass his clients. Case has been adjourned to tomorrow Wednesday 9th, July, 2008 at 9:00am at Buganda Road Magistrate court when the placards showing the activists’ messages urging government to include LGBTI people in National HIV&AIDS intervention programming will be presented as exhibits.

We are requesting that you continue writing letters to the Attorney General of Uganda, and Director of Public Prosecutions, Uganda requesting for the charges to be dropped unconditionally, as soon as possible. Please contact the relevant officers below, with this request, highlighting the fact that the action was justified, the Conference Organizers also did give accreditation to the three activists, and that it is in the interest of the Ugandan Population as a whole, and the War on HIV/AIDS in particular to include Sexual Minorities in HIV/AIDS Prevention efforts in Uganda. We also request those of you that are based in Uganda to come to court on 9th July, 2008 to show your support and belief in the indivisibility of human rights.

Background: Three Human Rights Defenders were arrested during the just concluded HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting in Kampala. There were objecting to the exclusion of Sexual Minorities from the HIV/AIDS Prevention programmes in the country.

After two days and nights of detention in police cells, the three: Pepe Julian Onziema, Valentine Kalende and Usaam Mukwaya were charged with Criminal Trespass, a charge that carries a one year jail term according to section
302 of the Penal Code of Uganda. They were released on bail on the 6th of June 2008.

They appeared in court today Friday the 20th of June 2008 at 9:30 am, at the Buganda Road Magistrate’s court in Kampala – Uganda. The hearing did not take place because the state witnesses were not in court for the hearing. The Magistrate requested the public prosecutor to inform her why the state witnesses where not present for the hearing. The public prosecutor informed the Magistrate that one of the state witnesses was not feeling well and that he had a problem of back ache. The second state witness’ mobile phone was switched off.

The Lawyer for the three LGBTI/HIV – Aids human rights defenders requested the Magistrate to dismiss the case on grounds of the state witnesses not being serious with the case, luck of enough evidence and that his clients are demoralized and physiologically tortured. However, the magistrate adjourned the hearing to 8th July 2008.

Please send email, fax and/or call the officials below:

Hon. Dr. Edward Kiddu Makubuya
Attorney General
Minister of Justice, Constitutional Affairs & Attorney General
Tel: +256-414-230-538
Fax: +256-414-254-829
Email: mojca@africaonline.co.ug

Mr. Richard Buteera
Director of Public Prosecutions
Ministry of Justice, Constitutional Affairs & the Attorney General
Tel: +256-414-332-502/332-504
Fax: +256-414-258-565/341-316
Email: admin@dpp.go.ug

For further information please contact;

David Kato
+256-773-104-971

Frank Mugisha
+256-772-616-062

Victor Juliet Mukasa
+256-753-116-034/ +27 765 254 4951

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8503.html

July 28, 2008

19
Concern for missing Ugandan gay rights activist

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
One of three people who demonstrated at an AIDS international conference in Uganda has disappeared. Usaam Auf Mukwaya was arrested at the HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting last month. Their protest was sparked when the head of Uganda’s AIDS commission said that gay people are driving up the number of infections in the country, but would not be targeted with prevention work. The international meeting was organised by a group of countries and organisation, among them the US, the World Bank, the UN.

On Friday Pepe Julian Onziema, another of the protesters currently facing court charges for criminal trespass, received a phone call from a motorcyclist who identified himself as Amis. He said he was with Auf when they were ambushed by three men in a police patrol vehicle in Nakasero on their way back from saying prayers at a mosque. Auf was on his way back to Speke Hotel where the rest of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Human Rights Defenders and friends had gathered after the protesters’ court hearing.

"We were riding from Nakasero when a police patrol vehicle suddenly interrupted our way," reports Amis. "We had approached Entebbe road junction and stopped waiting for cars to pass. As we were waiting, the police patrol parked in front of us and three policemen, two in uniform and one in plain clothes came and asked Auf to get on the patrol car. He asked for a pen from the policeman in plain clothes in order to write down some contacts. They allowed him to do so and he gave me the piece of paper and told me to call the contacts and inform them. There was no violence portrayed at the moment of the arrest."

Gay rights activists in Uganda are concerned about where Auf has been taken. Last year Ugandan deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi called for the criminal law to be used against lesbians and gays. Section 140 of Uganda’s penal code carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for homosexual conduct, while Section 141 punishes ‘attempts’ at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years of imprisonment. Section 143 punishes acts of "gross indecency" with up to five years in prison, while a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of 14 years to life imprisonment.

A poll in August 2007 found that 95% of Ugandans want homosexual acts to remain illegal. Government officials have regularly threatened and harassed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. In 2005 Uganda became the first country in the world to introduce laws banning same-sex marriage. Last summer SMUG, a coalition of four LGBT organisations, launched a campaign called "Let us Live in Peace."

At a press conference in Kampala on August 16th, the group condemned discrimination and violence against LGBT people, as well as the life-threatening silence about their sexualities in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. In response, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo told the BBC on August 17th that homosexuality was "unnatural." He denied charges of police harassment of LGBT people, but also declared, "We know them, we have details of who they are." In the wake of the SMUG press conference, Pastor Martin Ssempa organised an August 21 rally in Kampala to address what he called "a call for action on behalf of victims of homosexuality." Calling homosexuality "a criminal act against the laws of nature," Ssempa led hundreds of demonstrators demanding government action against LGBT people.

From: Sexual Minorities of Uganda
admin@sexualminoritiesuganda.org

July 27, 2008

20
Police Arrest, Torture and Release SMUG Human Rights Activist

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 Auf 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.

Action

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission 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 faxes and e-mails to the following Ugandan
officials:

President Kaguta Yoweri Museveni,
President of the Republic of Uganda ,
Office of the President of Uganda ,
State House Nakasero,
P.O. Box 24594 , Kampala , Uganda .
Fax: +256 (0) 414 436 102 / + 256 41 4235459 / +256 41 4344012
E-mail: museveni@starcom.co.ug / aak@statehouse.go.ug

Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda,
Minister of Internal Affairs,
Jinja Rd , PO Box 7191 ,
Kampala , Uganda .
Fax: + 256 414343088

Mr. Kale Kaihura,
Inspector General of Police,
Telephone: +256 (0) 712 755 999
Please copy your appeals to the following individuals responsible for monitoring human rights in Uganda :

Roselyn Karugonjo-Segawa
Director, Monitoring and Inspections,
Uganda Human Rights Commission,
Plot 20/22/24 Buganda Road ,
P.O Box 4929 ,
Kampala , Uganda .
Fax: + 256 41 255 261
Email: roselyn@uhrc.ug or rosekarugonjo@yahoo.co.uk

Mr. Livingstone Sewanyana,
FHRI,
Human Rights House,
Plot 1853, Block 15, Lulume Road , Nsambya, P.O Box 11027 , Kampala , Uganda ,
Fax: 256 – 41 – 510498,
E-mail: fhri@fhri.or.ug or fhri@starcom.co.ug

Please send a copy of all e-mails and faxes to IGLHRC Africa Regional Office at
Fax: +27.21.462.3024
E-mail: aro.africa@iglhrc.org (attn: July 08 Uganda Action)

From: Xtra.ca
http://www.xtra. ca/public/ viewstory. aspx?AFF_ TYPE=1&STORY_ ID=5190&PUB_ TEMPLATE_ ID=3

July 31, 2008

21
Book review: How solutions lie in The Wisdom of Whores
‘The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS.’
by Elizabeth Pisani. Viking Canada. $23.

by Greg Beneteau
Elizabeth Pisani is taking the AIDS industry to task in print. After nearly a decade of tracking HIV-infection patterns among high-risk groups in Asia, Elizabeth Pisani has concluded that there’s a worldwide shortage of frank discussion about HIV risk factors. People, she says, don’t talk openly about "sex and drugs and all the other daft things you do when you’re thinking with your dick, or female equivalent." The Wisdom of Whores describes in almost comic detail how the US government doles out billions of dollars to fund abstinence before marriage programs that don’t work and to "eradicate prostitution" in countries where there are few alternatives. This approach is tainted by religious ideology — the kind of bible-thumping that paints AIDS as an angry and vengeful God’s punishment of gays. According to Pisani political correctness, human rights and money — especially money — also conspire to distract attention from the realities of the world AIDS crisis.

"It’s recognized that there’s an institutional investment in making HIV absolutely everybody’s problem, in making it a development issue and a gender inequality issue and in mounting an expansive multisectoral response and all of that bollocks," Pisani explains. "But while we’re doing that we’re refocusing prevention away from what works." A former Asian correspondent for Reuters, Pisani stumbled into the world of epidemiology after returning to school in the UK in the mid 1990s. With a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology she joined the newly formed United Nations umbrella group UNAIDS in 1996 and helped to sound the alarm about the rapidly growing numbers of HIV cases. She relates with frustration how world leaders are afraid to confront evidence that intergenerational and extramarital sex — sex that lies outside the bounds of polite conversation — fuel HIV transmission in parts of Africa. They prefer, she says, to portray AIDS as an issue of poverty and under-development.

But Uganda and Senegal, despite their socioeconomic challenges, were able to stave off the worst of the HIV epidemic by focusing prevention efforts on sex workers and people having "sex in nets," or with multiple partners. Elsewhere the timidity had disastrous consequences: By the time Pisani penned the first biennial report on AIDS in 1998 one in four adults in some African countries were believed to be infected. "I just reached a pitch of frustration that we could be making so much more difference than we were," she says. The late Republican senator Jesse Helms told the New York Times in 1995 that he wanted to decrease funding for US domestic AIDS programs because the disease was spread by the "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct" of gays. It was then that the "AIDS industry" — Pisani’s term for the many national governments, NGOs, faith groups, pharmaceutical companies and do-gooder rock stars — finally got on board. Helms changed his tune in 2000 when celebrities like Bono and Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, convinced him that HIV brings immeasurable suffering "to infants and children and their families." Helms was one of the driving forces behind the 2003 President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a five-year, $15-billion US program to fight the epidemic. (Recently renewed and increased substantially in July 2008.)

PEPFAR did raise the bar for funding HIV programs in developing countries but, Pisani points out, the same people who are silent about HIV as it rampages among gay men, drug users and sex workers in the West are also squeamish about helping gay men, drug users and sex workers in the rest of the world. Faith-based groups are singled out for special treatment under PEPFAR, despite the opposition of many churches to contraception and homosexuality. Only 20 percent of PEPFAR funds goes to prevention efforts and fully a third of that money promotes abstinence — an approach that doesn’t work — as the sole means of prevention. High-risk groups have been entirely overlooked. By law, donor recipients aren’t allowed to take PEPFAR funds if they intend to help sex workers do anything but get out of the business. Brazil, which wants to regulate sex work, walked away from $40 million rather than yield to this demand. And to this day not a cent has gone toward harm-reduction programs for drug users, Pisani notes. There are also those who see PEPFAR as an investment rather than an act of mercy. In the first years of the project huge amounts of cash went toward buying brand name antiretroviral drugs and "Made in America" condoms rather than relying on cheaper, local versions. In Asia, where Pisani started tracking HIV-prevalence rates in 2001, close to 100 million people were being ignored or underserviced. It was her job to figure out in which circles HIV was being spread, mainly through good old-fashioned field surveillance: sample some people and ask them about their behaviours. Pisani found that asking transgendered sex workers about condom negotiation and learning the street value of heroin in Jakarta turned out to be a lot like writing a good news story.

"I never thought I would be an arms-length number cruncher," Pisani says. "I was first and foremost a journalist and that means talking to people." Those people include Fuad, a young Indonesian long-haul truck driver who supplements his meagre income by selling sex to men, as does his girlfriend back home. Pisani spoke with Frankie, a former heroin user from Bali who used to share a single needle among dozens of his fellow inmates in prison. Pisani learned that in Indonesian jails heroin is cheaper than clean needles. We meet Nancy, who is at ease talking about her work as the headmistress of an Indonesian network of MTF transsexual sex workers known as waria. She complains that her young charges have no respect for their elders, brazenly showing off their designer vaginas — bought at sex-change clinics in neighbouring Thailand — to potential clients. Nancy also works for Jakarta’s Department of Social Affairs teaching waria the practical skills they need for career options outside of sex work. But even in the face of high HIV- prevalence rates and a conservative Muslim theology that vilifies sex work and condom use, most waria remain sex workers either because the pay is too good or it’s the only job they’ve ever known. They choose.

"It’s less about the money than about the orgasms," Nancy explains to Pisani. "Let’s face it, we’re all human, we’ve all got to get laid." The book is full of such frank, often funny revelations from ordinary people. Combined with reams of statistical data collected from the red-light districts of Jakarta to the gay discos of Shanghai, Pisani comes to a simple but inescapable conclusion: sometimes people, for survival, fun or a combination of the two, take risks and they need help to do so more safely, not preaching and isolation. But Pisani is not just another angry scientist railing against conservative values. She also tears a strip off liberal activists who have their own grab bag of failed policies, what she calls "the sacred cows of the AIDS industry." Many of the ideas central to prevention today, such as emphasizing peer education, using grassroots non-governmental organizations for outreach and pressing for a strict "voluntary testing only" rule, were borrowed from the playbooks of AIDS activists in gay communities in the ’80s. They were amazingly successful under the repressive conditions they faced but, according to Pisani, many of the underlying assumptions change when you go halfway around the world. Peer education?

Pisani says sex workers and drug users are more often rivals than friends, that small-scale outreach falls apart when your client base is too large or spread over too large an area, and that in some cases mandatory testing can break the wall of shame and stigma when followed up with care and support services. Pisani also unabashedly tears apart any notion that it’s preferable to spend money on universal prevention campaigns rather than target high-risk behaviours. She blames this mentality on the politicization of the issue — the back-and-forth between ideologies that has hindered epidemiologists’ efforts to treat HIV like any other infectious disease. "That’s what it is, first and foremost," she says. "But now we’re in this weird situation where saying ‘HIV is a gay disease’ is stigmatizing to the gay community. So we say something else. Then awareness and condom use during anal sex drops and suddenly, HIV is a gay disease again…. If, in bending over backward to avoid stigmatizing people, you lose the ability to reach them it won’t work." It all sounds rather unkind. Then again public health has always been a rather fascistic discipline, Pisani concedes.

When behaviours prove frustratingly hard to change, sometimes you just need to fall back on the basics: condoms, clean needles and frank discussions about the risk factors for HIV transmission. "Everyone takes risks," she says. "It’s part of the human condition, thank God; how boring would life be if it weren’t? But people choose the risks they’re willing to take based upon a fairly complex cost/benefit model. It’s not perfect but the more information we give them the more sophisticated their analysis will be." Have her experiences made Pisani any more risk-averse? She laughs. "Oh God, no. I’m just as much of a slut as I ever was

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8777.html

August 22, 2008

22
Ugandan AIDS Commission Chief says homosexuality must be stamped out in schools

by Rachel Charman
Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the Ugandan AIDS Commission Chief, has warned the education ministry of that country that homosexuality is "rife" in schools. Dr Apuuli also urged the education ministry to stamp out homosexuality, and said that parents and guardians must aid them in this, The New Vision reports. "The practice [of homosexuality] is common among young people between 15 and 24 years," he said.

Dr Apuuli recently returned from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, and claims that Uganda was under attack by other states due to its conservative stance on gays and lesbians. "We had quite adverse publicity in Mexico," he said. "Many speakers condemned our country but I believe we have strong values in terms of behaviour and what we think is right."

At the conference at the beginning of this month, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon advised nations to "pass laws against homophobia" in order to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. Writing in the Washington Times, Ban Ki-Moon continued to urge societies "to speak out against discrimination and to guarantee the rights of people living with HIV." Lisa Power, Corporate Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), was present at the conference.

She recently told PinkNews.co.uk: "One of the main foci of the conference was the problem in places where there is stigma attached to gay and bisexual men and HIV positive people. Basically, until you stop persecuting these people, you can’t prevent the spread of HIV. This is a problem particularly in some places in Latin America and Africa."

plusnews.org
http://www.plusnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=80278#

10 September 2008

22a
Genocide by Denial

Kampala,(PlusNews) – Uganda has been called "the birthplace" of AIDS; some of the earliest known cases can be traced to the central district of Rakai, where long-distance truckers started dying from a mysterious illness in the mid-1980s. That small demographic soon mushroomed into a global pandemic, with Africa at its epicentre. Despite being the most affected, the continent was on the sidelines of the response for years, only belatedly benefiting from prevention campaigns and pharmaceutical interventions. In a new book, Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS Killed Millions, Dr Peter Mugyenyi tells the story of the AIDS epidemic in Uganda from its frontlines: hospitals, orphanages, graveyards, witch doctors’ homes – everywhere but from a drug supply cupboard.

Mugyenyi was one of the founders of Uganda’s Joint Clinical Research Centre for HIV/AIDS (JCRC), which pioneered the provision of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment in Uganda in the mid-1990s. The book is a personal account of "throw[ing] a bucket of water into the towering inferno" of Uganda’s HIV epidemic at a time when the country could do little more than look on as its people died slow and preventable deaths. After doing his medical training in the United Kingdom, Mugyenyi returned to Uganda to find a mounting death toll from AIDS. Every day he watched parents burying their children and children burying parents. The drugs that could save his patients’ lives were available, if they could only afford them. "The vast majority of my patients died not just of AIDS but of poverty," he writes.

In the early 1990s the first generation of protease inhibitors [anti-HIV drugs designed to suppress virus replication] cost US$14,000 per year per patient, at a time when most Ugandans earned less than a dollar a day. Mugyenyi had to turn away thousands of patients, including some of his own relatives, because the life-saving medication was so prohibitively expensive; neither his relatives nor his many other patients could understand why, if there were drugs for their condition, they could not get them.

In his narrative about Uganda’s battle for affordable AIDS drugs, Mugyenyi recalls details that are almost unimaginable in today’s world of $10-a-month ARVs: how at the height of the epidemic people started planning funerals as soon as their relatives began coughing; and how Kampala’s ubiquitous pork eateries gained popularity as people sought to avoid the weight loss associated with ‘slim’ disease [a local euphemism for HIV/AIDS]. He lashes out at big pharmaceutical companies that could have saved lives but didn’t, accusing them of blocking the manufacture of generic versions of their ARVs on the pretext that they needed to recoup their development costs – an excuse which Mugyenyi carefully and convincingly debunks.

He finds, for instance, that significantly more was spent by drug companies on marketing their ARVs than on developing them, especially since several of the components commonly used in the drugs were already available. He demonstrates how this prevarication was combined with the myth that Africans could not be trusted to efficiently manage or take life-long ARV treatment to keep the drugs out of their reach. Donors also come in for criticism. In the days before big spenders like the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) they gave meagre amounts of aid that did little more than boost their public image. "Not all donations should be accepted all the time," Mugyenyi argues, "because some of them end up as aid to the donor."

Finally, he chastises African leaders for not coming together to deal with what was undeniably a shared crisis. He urges today’s leaders to advocate for the needs of their populations, and to unite against international laws seeking to limit the availability of cheap generic ARVs. Mugyenyi ends his book with a warning: even as the fight against AIDS continues, other preventable global epidemics like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) are gathering force and pose serious health threats if the lessons of the AIDS epidemic are ignored.

newvision.co.ug
http://www.newvision.co.ug/PA/8/13/649677

14th September, 2008

23
Ssempa rewarded for anti-gay crusade

by Joyce Namutebi
Dr. Martin Ssempa, a pastor at Makerere Community Church, has received an award for his fight against homosexuality. Ssempa and his wife Tracey received the plague from Apostle Alex Mitala, the overseer of the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches in Uganda. This was during the “Great Marriage Celebration” organised by the National Association of Marriage Enhancement in conjunction with the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Uganda at Nakivubo Stadium over the weekend.

Mitala led hundreds of couples who converged at the stadium from various parts of the country into a prayer for Ssempa to continue being the torch-bearer in the fight against the vice in Uganda. “You are not fighting alone. We are with you,” Mitala said. He said homosexuality was one way of making the world extinct. “When men marry each other and women marry women, clans and tribes become extinct,” Mitala noted.

Bishop Michael Mugerwa, the organiser of the celebrations, urged couples to continue the fight against homosexuality, saying marriage was made for man and woman. Ssempa thanked the Christians for standing by him and said he was encouraged by their support to continue with his campaign. He proposed the establishment of a national marriage alliance to counter homosexuality. Ssempa said the alliance would also discuss problems concerning marriage in Uganda.

Dr. Joseph Serwadda, the patron of Churches in Communities, asked the Government to consider declaring a national day for married people. Pr. Robert Kayanja of Lubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral urged husbands to listen to their wives, saying that God can use them to bring blessings in their families.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8998.html

September 15, 2008

24
Gay man refuses deportation to Uganda

by Rachel Charman
A gay Ugandan man has refused to board his flight back to his country of origin. John "Bosco" Nyombi, 38, was due to be deported back to Uganda, where he fears he will be persecuted on the grounds of his sexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and gays caught by the police can face a life sentence in prison. Mr Nyombi, who has been employed in the UK as a mental health worker since 2002, refused to get on his plane at Gatwick Airport at 6.40am yesterday and remains with immigration services. A group of his supporters had gathered at Gatwick to protest at his deportation.

Neil Pugmire, a spokesman from the Diocese of Portsmouth, told The Daily Echo: "We received a telephone call from John on a landline in Gatwick Airport telling me he had refused to get on the plane and that they had accepted that decision. He’s still being held at Gatwick Airport. I imagine that the immigration services are looking for a detention centre that they can take him to. That, we hope, will buy us some time for his solicitor to take some legal action; an injunction or a judicial review."

Whilst Mr Nyombi’s case goes on, anti-gay campaigns in Uganda continue to gather momentum. Over the weekend, the Great Marriage Celebration organised by the National Association for Marriage Enhancement (NAME) took place at Nakivubo Stadium. The event was held in conjunction with the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches (NFBAPC). Overseer of NFBAPC Alex Mitala presented an award to Dr Martin Ssempa, a pastor at Makerere Community Church, for his "fight against homosexuality."

Mr Mitala then spoke to the crowd of 26,000, stating that homosexuality was wrong and would lead to the extinction of the human race. Bishop Michael Mugerwa, who organised the celebration, urged heterosexual married couples to continue in campaigning against homosexuality.

newvision.co.ug
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/650051?highlight&q=semugoma

17th September, 2008

24a
Same sex attraction is not a disease

by Paul Semugoma
A few years ago, a patient told me he was homosexual. He was also HIV-positive, and it was a challenge to counsel him. I realised I did not know about HIV prevention among gay men.I researched and was surprised to learn that homosexuals are one of the most vulnerable groups in Uganda that have not been targeted for HIV-prevention.

There are many reasons to explain this, among them culture and religion. The most accurate reason is that Ugandans know little about sexuality and homosexuality in particular. I have been answering questions for The New Vision ‘Ask the Doctor’ column for several years. Recently, I received a question from a reader asking for a quick answer. I read: “Dear Dr., I am 24 years old, but the problem is that I have been gay since my childhood. I have been having those feelings which is stressing me a lot. Sometimes I think of killing myself because of what I am. I have tried my level best to overcome it in vain; fasting, praying day and night. I really hate myself. Dr. is there any medicine which can really help me from that big problem?” I told my editor that it was useless to answer the question because it would not be published. That was from experience. The editor agreed, although reluctantly. I was thus surprised to find a whole teen section devoted to homosexuality in The New Vision of September 6. However, this ground-breaking publication was unfortunate. The articles were written by teenagers who gave their opinions, which coincide with those of society. Yet they are erroneous opinions. Nonetheless, the opinions were still published, with a few quotes from counsellors.

The counsellors were presumably experts. But their opinions about homosexuality are not only unscientific and un-researched but they have been disproved by scientific research. To them, homosexuality is a result of environment, due to sexual abuse as children, peer pressure, and erosion of family values, it is introduced and becomes a habit, one can be helped by counselling, it is an addiction, and homosexuals will not be able to become fathers and mothers. I do not need to search far to disprove these myths. What would these counsellors tell the 24 year-old reader from Ntinda who asked me the above question?

Freud and Jung were important historical psychoanalysts who lived in the 18th Century. Surely, their theories of sexuality cannot be relevant in the 21st Century. From the scientific point of view, same sex attraction is a natural phenomenon. It exists in the animal kingdom. Early in medical history, homosexuality was considered a disease. But as far back as 1973, psychiatric associations started removing it from classifications of disease. In 1994, the World Health Organisation removed it from the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). Accordingly, ‘conversion therapy’ (homosexual treatment) is condemned by most reputed psychiatric organisations. It is harmful.

The reader from Ntinda would not be helped to understand why the Ugandan society thinks homosexuality is bad. He is a homosexual and contemplates suicide because he believes he is bad. He has sought help and is almost giving up. Should I condemn him? My culture, religion and society condemn him. Same sex orientation is a risk factor for suicide. It is sad that in condemning homosexuality, we use ignorance. Our cultural, social and religious sensibilities are understandable. But why condemn young people to suicide through ignorance? They cannot help themselves. They are what they are. We can do better than condemn fellow Ugandans.

The writer is a medical doctor

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9044.html

September 19, 2008

25
Border agency accused of "illegal" deportation of gay Ugandan

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
A gay man has been removed from the UK and deported back to his native Uganda in what his supporters call an illegal act. John "Bosco" Nyombi, 38, was due to be deported last week. He fears he will be persecuted on the grounds of his sexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and gays caught by the police can face a life sentence in prison. Mr Nyombi, who has been employed in the UK as a mental health worker since 2002, was taken to Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon for deportation.

"We had a phone call lasting for 12 minutes and 28 seconds to speak with Bosco in Tinsley detention centre," his supporters said. "He said he was "terrified" and sounded low although he said he had been praying at the Chapel since there was little else to do there. The Legal Team explained that this is an illegal act of the UK Border Agency system and have tried to expedite his case through to prevent his deportation but perhaps there were "administrative problems" with the timing. If Bosco does arrive in Uganda he is in danger."

Mr Nyombi’s pleas for asylum have been reported in Ugandan newspapers. The Ugandan President spoke of his country’s "rejection" of homosexuality during a speech he gave at the wedding of a former MP’s daughter earlier this year. Mr Museveni said the purpose of life was to create children and that homosexuality was a "negative foreign culture." During his time in office LGBT Ugandans have been repeatedly threatened, harassed or attacked. Many have fled the country.

The plight of Uganda’s gay men and lesbians has been highlighted recently, with high profile asylum cases such as Prossy Kakooza championed by Peter Tatchell and LGBT equality groups. Many gay asylum seekers are being deported from the UK on the premise that they can continue to pursue their sexuality in the native land if they act "discreetly."

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said: "In the past five years, the government has arrested LGBT people on sodomy charges, harassed LGBT human rights defenders, and fined a private radio station that broadcast programming on HIV prevention and men who have sex with men. In July 2005, Uganda’s Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution making Uganda only the second country in the world to use its constitution to outlaw marriage between people of the same sex. A coalition of religious leaders has marched through the streets of Kampala demanding the arrests of LGBT people with one cleric even calling for the "starving to death" of homosexuals. Inspired by the official homophobia of the state, the Ugandan media has published lists of gay men and lesbians, leading to physical violence, loss of employment and educational opportunities by LGBT people."

iglhrc.org
http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/section.php?id=5&detail=888

26
Uganda: Action Alert—Demand An End To Official Harassment of LGBT Activists

Summary
In what appears to be an all-out effort to silence the sexual rights movement in Uganda, police have again arrested high profile members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, this time two male-to-female transgender gay men – Georgina (aka) Oundo George and Brenda (aka Kiiza). According to Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG), two men who identified themselves as police officers, but were not in the customary Ugandan Police uniform arrested both men at the home of Georgina on Wednesday September 10, 2008.

Georgina and Brenda were held at Nabweru Police Post for a full week without access to lawyers or to bail. They were never brought before a judge, even though Article 3.9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that, “anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge.” Article 23 of the Ugandan Constitution requires that an arrested person must appear before a judge within 48 hours of arrest.

Brenda and Georgina report being beaten, kicked and hit with batons around the legs and ankles during their detention as interrogators demanded that they provide information about the names and addresses of other LGBT activists. Brenda and Georgina were finally released on September 17, 2008, but have been required to report regularly to the police station. They have been accused of “spreading homosexuality,” though no such crime exists under Ugandan law. “Carnal knowledge against the order of nature” is punishable by up to life imprisonment in Uganda.

Among the rights violated in this most recent incident are:

* The right to liberty and security of person; freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention

* The right to freedom from torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment

* The right to freedom of expression

Action
IGLHRC requests that its members send appeals to Ugandan authorities as quickly as possible:

* Demanding an end to the harassment of Oundo George and Kiiza through the requirement that they report to the police on a regular basis.

* Calling on the Ugandan government to immediately end illegal arrests and detention of LGBT individuals and human rights defenders.

* Asking for a repeal of Section 145 of the Penal Code Act of 1950, which ostensibly criminalizes homosexual acts.

Background
In the past five years, there have been nearly a dozen arrests of LGBT people on charges related to homosexuality in Uganda. Authorities have harassed LGBT human rights defenders in their homes and in public and fined a private radio station that broadcast a program on HIV prevention among men who have sex with men. In July 2005, Uganda’s Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution making Uganda only the second country in the world to use its supreme law to outlaw marriage between people of the same sex. In 2007, a coalition of religious leaders marched through the streets of Kampala demanding the arrests of LGBT people with one cleric even calling for the “starving to death” of homosexuals. Buttressed by the official homophobia of the state, the Ugandan media has published lists of gay men and lesbians, leading to physical violence, loss of employment and the curtailing of educational opportunities for those LGBT people who were named.

On June 4, 2008, Usaam Mukwaaya, Pepe Julian Onziema and Valentine Kalende, were arrested and charged with criminal trespass while peacefully attending the HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting in Kampala. The arrest of the activists was condemned by local and international organizations, including UNAIDS, as well as by the U.S. government. Usaam Mukwaaya was rearrested on July 25, 2008 on his way from Friday prayers and was detained and tortured for several days.

IGLHRC is deeply concerned that this increasingly clear pattern of abuse — arrest, mistreatment in detention, and then release — is a systematic attempt to silence the Ugandan LGBT, feminist and human rights communities through constant harassment. There have also been reliable reports that authorities have a list of LGBT leaders including addresses, photographs and other personal information. Some activists have fled into neighboring countries to escape arrest.

The East African (Nairobi)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809220358.html

20 September 2008

27
Gay Hunting – Govt Loses the Plot

by L. Muthoni Wanyeki
Nairobi – The weekend before last, two members of Uganda’s gay community were picked up from their own homes — "helpfully" identified by a neighbour. They remained in detention in Kampala far over the time that is legally proscribed for detention without trial. They were denied access to their advocate. They were, however, allowed access to a priest, who pressurised them to give up names of other members of the gay community.

It became clear that the Criminal Investigations Department had a list of 11 Ugandans known to be involved in organising against the discrimination and violence faced by the gay community. The CID even went to the astonishing extent of visiting several banks in Kampala, in an apparent attempt to freeze the accounts of those on the list. The two gay men were threatened during their detention with charges of "recruitment." This, of course, is not currently a criminal offence articulated in Uganda’s penal code.

If it were, it would be (yet) another indication of how little understood issues of gender identity and sexual orientation are — nobody "chooses" their gender identity or sexual orientation and therefore nobody could be "recruited" into one other than the one innately theirs. Even if there were a choice, what person, in the face of the extreme homophobia that obtain here, would consciously make such a difficult choice? In fact, the very reverse is true — the homophobia actually forces many with different gender identities and sexual orientations to hide that fact for as long as they possibly can.

The news went out. Those in the human-rights and women’s movements in Uganda courageous enough to stand up in defence of the two gay men, together with Uganda’s fledging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex movement, did so. But the point being made by the state was clear — and its warning was heard. The citizenship and equality rights due to Uganda’s LGBTI community will not only not be upheld–they will be deliberately trampled upon by the state. With the almost full support of the moral majority.

Two Ugandan lesbians on the CID list fled the country. The rest of the LGBTI community is now living in fear — simply because of who they are. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Take the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity, for example. Originally established to deal, appropriately, with ethics in governance and having failed to do so, it is now venturing into areas where the state has absolutely no business. The minister’s latest proposal was to ban miniskirts on the spurious grounds that they cause road accidents by distracting drivers. Honestly!

Meanwhile, a debate has been raging in parliament and the executive around the legalisation of sex work. As usual, the focus is not on demand — the men who buy sex — but on supply — the women who, in response to that demand, sell sex. And the focus on women has no regard for their safety and security — in terms of health as well as in terms of violence — but on their supposed lack of morality. Again. Honestly. The obsession of any state with morality — conservatively and patriarchally defined — is the sign of a state in crisis.

It is the sign of a state ready to do anything to mobilise the moral majority at the expense of those who most need its protection. It is the sign of a state desperate to distract attention from the much more pressing and real needs of its population. Paedophilia and violence against women are legitimate reasons for state intervention in the personal, on the basis that citizen’s safety and security are at stake. But consenting adults? Again, honestly. Museveni must call off his storm troopers.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission

afp.google.com
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_Vvh-afaH30C28nlscaqqI8RtnA

October 4, 2008

28
Controversial Ugandan minister launches anti-gay tirade

Kampala (AFP) — Uganda’s controversial ethics and integrity minister who last month called for the wearing of miniskirts to be made illegal said Saturday he believed civilisation was being threatened by gays.

"Who is going to occupy Uganda 20 years from now if we all become homosexuals. We know that homosexuals don’t reproduce," James Nsaba Buturo told a press conference. There is now a globalisation of homosexuality and people in Uganda are attempting to take advantage of the globalisation," he said. "It is an attempt to end civilisation. It is that serious."

Buturo, a devout member of the Church of Uganda, part of the Anglican Communion, called for anti-gay legislation to be enacted. The government needed to "act quickly to provide legal cover for" for a more aggressive campaign to eradicate homosexuality, he said.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised Uganda for detaining gays and excluding them from HIV/AIDS programmes. Addressing journalists last month, Buturo proposed a nationwide ban on miniskirts in the interests of road safety. "What’s wrong with wearing a miniskirt? You can cause an accident because some of our people are mentally weak. Wearing a miniskirt should be regarded as indecent, which would be punishable under Ugandan law," he said.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9321.html

October 16, 2008

29
Gays motivated by greed, Ugandan bishop tells school

by Rachel Charman
Bishop of Mukono Eria Paul Luzinda claimed that homosexuality is increasing in Uganda, and that this increase can be blamed on a desire for wealth. His claims were made on Sunday during a speech to students at a school in the Kayunga District.

Bishop Luzinda told students and teachers: "Many Ugandans today think that money is everything and are ready to do anything, be it immoral, to get it. Because of their greed for money our people have taken on immoral acts like homosexuality and lesbianism. The youth are the main target of these acts but I want to advise you not to be enticed into such acts because they will ruin your life."

Bishop Lizunda went on to instruct school authorities in his diocese to keep a close watch for gays and lesbians within schools, saying that their presence would harm the next generation of Ugandans. The Bishop also criticised corruption within the Ugandan government, citing officials who had misused or embezzled public funds as the cause of rural poverty in the country.

"What is happening in our country today is really bad. How can a minister accused of stealing public funds still hold office? I pity young people who still have to be in this country longer than us," he said. Bishop Luzinda has fought to keep homosexuality illegal in Uganda, and criticised more liberal attitudes towards gays in Europe. Speaking in June this year, he said: "not all that comes from Europe is superior and must be taken up."

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9343.html

October 20, 2008

30
Ugandan lesbian granted asylum in UK

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
A judge has ruled that a lesbian woman from Uganda may remain in the UK. Prossy Kakooza, 26, fled her homeland after her family found her in bed with her partner and marched both women naked to the police station where Ms Kakooza was raped and tortured by police officers. She escaped to the UK after her family bribed the guards to release her so they could have her killed. They believed this would ‘take away the curse from the family.’ The Home Office’s initial decision to deny Ms Kakooza asylum did not take into account the fact that she had been mistreated by the state and would probably face the same treatment again if she returned.

It believed that she was raped and tortured, because of the medical evidence, but dismissed her attack as the ‘random acts of individuals’ and suggested that she could move to another town in Uganda. The Home Office will not appeal against the ruling that she can now remain in the UK, it emerged on Friday. Ms Kakooza said that she is still in shock at the decision.

"You have held me together, you have held me upright when all I wanted to do was roll up in a heap and give up," she said in an email to supporters. You gave me the motivation to go on and fight! Going with me to places to collect signatures, encouraging people to sign online, coming to meetings, writing statements, going to court with me, and most importantly – all the prayers. And I don’t think you have any idea how the phone calls, texts and emails help. They kept me sane. There are no appropriate words I can use to say thank you. All I can do is pray to my God to bless you all. You have changed my life and for that I will forever be grateful."

More than 5,000 people from across the world had signed a petition to the Home Office to grant her asylum and hundreds more wrote to immigration ministers. The MCC Manchester, a church that welcomes LGBT people, gave her financial and spiritual support. Last month a gay man was removed from the UK and deported back to his native Uganda in what his supporters called an illegal act.

John "Bosco" Nyombi, 38, fears he will be persecuted on the grounds of his sexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and gays caught by the police can face a life sentence in prison. Mr Nyombi, who has been employed in the UK as a mental health worker since 2002, was taken to Heathrow Airport for deportation.

The Ugandan President spoke of his country’s "rejection" of homosexuality during a speech he gave at the wedding of a former MP’s daughter earlier this year. Mr Museveni said the purpose of life was to create children and that homosexuality was a "negative foreign culture." During his time in office LGBT Ugandans have been repeatedly threatened, harassed or attacked. Many have fled the country.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said: "In the past five years, the government has arrested LGBT people on sodomy charges, harassed LGBT human rights defenders, and fined a private radio station that broadcast programming on HIV prevention and men who have sex with men. In July 2005, Uganda’s Parliament passed an amendment to the constitution making Uganda only the second country in the world to use its constitution to outlaw marriage between people of the same sex. A coalition of religious leaders has marched through the streets of Kampala demanding the arrests of LGBT people with one cleric even calling for the "starving to death" of homosexuals. Inspired by the official homophobia of the state, the Ugandan media has published lists of gay men and lesbians, leading to physical violence, loss of employment and educational opportunities by LGBT people."

Last week Lin Homer, chief executive of the Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA), said that bans on homosexuality in asylum seekers’ home countries are not reason enough to allow them to stay in Britain. "What the court takes into account is the practical consequences for the individuals concerned," she told The Scotsman. "The simple presence of either a law or a culture that frowns upon homosexuality is not of itself a reason [to grant asylum]. I think these decisions are made carefully and thoughtfully."

Ms Homer insisted that the information used by the BIA when deciding whether to deport gay asylum seekers is thorough and accurate.

kaisernetwork.org
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=55202

October 27, 2008

31
Global Financial Crisis Could Hamper Uganda’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS, Officials Say

The future of Uganda’s recently launched five-year strategic plan aimed at reducing new HIV/AIDS cases in the country is uncertain because of the global financial crisis, which could lead donors to allocate funding more conservatively, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The strategic plan — aimed at reducing Uganda’s annual HIV incidence by 40% and increasing access to HIV/AIDS services — is estimated to cost $2 billion. There has been no indication yet that donors will not be able to meet their pledges to Uganda because of the financial crisis, James Kigozi, information officer at the Uganda AIDS Commission, said. He added, "Unless they give us notification, we expect to get the $2 billion over five years as planned."

However, Mai Harper, UNAIDS country coordinator, said she "would be surprised" if Uganda receives all of the funds pledged by donors. She said that this is the "last window of opportunity, and we ought to get things right" by refocusing the country’s fight against HIV/AIDS on prevention. In addition, Harper said that Uganda should use resources more efficiently and reduce corruption, adding, "Countries like Uganda should set their priorities very clearly." Uganda received about $240 million from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief for 2007-2008, as well as $70 million for HIV/AIDS programs from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the organization’s seventh funding round. The government set aside $4 million for malaria and antiretroviral drugs for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, according to IRIN/PlusNews.

According to Jim Arinaitwe, Global Fund coordinator at the Uganda AIDS Commission, governments are facing increased pressure to become more sustainable. He said Uganda will have to pay greater attention to its HIV/AIDS prevention during the financial crisis, adding, "When we prevent infection we have less people to treat." According to Kigozi, Uganda has been considering creating a national fund to guarantee sustainable resources for HIV/AIDS programs in the country. He added that the Parliamentary Committee on HIV/AIDS supports a national fund because donor funding can be unpredictable (IRIN/PlusNews, 10/23).

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-10060.html

December 23, 2008

32
Ugandan judge rules in favour of LGBT activists and awards damages for illegal raid

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
Ugandan Justice Stella Arach yesterday issued a ruling in favour of LGBT activists in their suit against the Attorney General of Uganda. The Uganda Hight Court ruling cited constitutional violations of the rights to privacy, property and the fundamental rights of women. It was the first time a gay or lesbian person has brought the authorities to court.

"This is a profound ruling that will limit police intrusiveness into the private lives of human rights defenders," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). In July 2005 the house of Victor Juliet Mukasa, of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), was raided in the middle of the night by local government officials who seized documents and other material. Another lesbian activist, Yvonne Oyoo, a Kenyan student who was in Ms Mukasa’s house on the night of the raid, was arrested and detained by local government officials and then taken to a police station.

There she was stripped, supposedly in order to confirm she was a woman, and fondled and sexually harassed by police officers. After the Ugandan government failed to investigate or take any action to remedy the wrongs that had occurred, Ms Mukasa and Ms Oyo filed a private suit against the Attorney General. In yesterday’s ruling, Justice Arach acknowledged that the government was not directly responsible for the actions of the local official, an elected town councilor, but nevertheless held the Attorney General’s office responsible for the actions of the police.

Justice Arach cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention of the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and key human rights treaties that had been violated by the police’s actions. She ordered that Ms Oyoo and Ms Mukasa be paid £4,700 in damages. "The most important role that police can play is to protect people," said Ms Mukasa.

"This judgement is a serious reminder to the Ugandan police that all Ugandans, including LGBT people, should be handled with respect and dignity." In 2005 Uganda became the first country in the world to introduce laws banning same-sex marriage.

Section 140 of Uganda’s penal code carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for homosexual conduct, while Section 141 punishes ‘attempts’ at carnal knowledge with a maximum of seven years of imprisonment. Section 143 punishes acts of "gross indecency" with up to five years in prison, while a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of 14 years to life imprisonment.

President of Uganda Kaguta Yoweri Museveni and other officials have spoken out against homosexuals on numerous occasions. In June this year, Ugandan Bishop Luzinda said: "I have been hearing that gays are demanding that the government should legalise their activities. This is absurd because God created a man and woman so that they can produce and fill this world. The government should not be tempted to legalise this backward culture which is bound to destroy this country. Not all that comes from Europe is superior and must be taken up by us," Bishop Luzinda said.

Mr Museveni spoke of his country’s "rejection" of homosexuality during a speech he gave at the wedding of a former MP’s daughter earlier this year. He said the purpose of life was to create children and that homosexuality was a "negative foreign culture." During his time in office LGBT Ugandans have been repeatedly threatened, harassed or attacked. Many have fled the country.