uganda

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of Ugandan gay-rights advocate David Kato, 46, who was killed after months of right-wing threats; most notably being featured on the front page of a Ugandan right-wing newspaper…

In the face of media reports that Ghana’s Western Region Minister recently called for the arrest of gays, a Ghanaian government source told me today that the government was not “clamping down” on sexual minorities. The source, who did not want to be named since he was not…

The Christian Council of Ghana blames the West.

Bahati vows to reintroduce it.

Bishop testifies against bill to parliamentary committee.

Despite Ssempa’s efforts, the Ugandan Parliament will likely table the measure.

While the world focuses on Japan Uganda’s lame duck parliament may force the bill through.

Ugandan gay rights activists believe the police and government officials are using the brutal murder of gay rights activist David Kato as an excuse to again whip up support for an anti-homosexuality bill (so severe that it dictates imprisonment, and even execution for the ‘crime’ of homosexuality) still pending in Parliament. “Shortly after we buried David, Bahati (the sponsor of the anti-homosexuality bill) issued a statement saying, ‘This is the gay violence we have been talking about,’” Kaggwa said in an interview with Religion Dispatches. “There is a correlation there between this very convenient confession by this guy and this statement.”

Despite the risk, Bishop Senyonjo has continued to minister to Uganda’s LGBT community. If he didn’t, it’s unlikely that anyone else would. After the other pastor’s invective against gays at Kato’s funeral, locals from his ancestral village refused to carry the casket to where it was to be buried. Some in attendance grabbed the activist’s white and gold coffin, which was draped with a rainbow flag, and carried it themselves. They would have had to bury Kato, who identified as Christian, without a blessing from any member of the clergy had Senyonjo not stepped in. “I believed that it wasn’t right just to dump the body there without prayers. I couldn’t bear it at any cost,” he said later.

Yesterday morning President Barack Obama gave the keynote address at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, a longstanding tradition among presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower. The breakfast also drew Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace and husband of recent Arizona shooting victim… This isn’t anti-religion; this is anti-hatred.