In Uganda, gay activist David Kato was brutally murdered after being outed in a newspaper. Commemorative event on Saturday afternoon in front of the Ugandan Embassy in Berlin
By Dirk Sander, Gay Liaison Officer at Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe
Last year, a newspaper in Uganda published photos and addresses of homosexuals. Headline: "Hang them!" Now this inhumane call has been brutally put into practice. Activist David Kato was attacked so severely in his home by an intruder that he died on the way to hospital.
Since the publication of his name, David Kato had received several death threats. Many friends from different countries advised him to leave Uganda. However, Kato wanted to continue his work in the fight for equal rights for sexual minorities in his home country.
Frank Mugisha, a fellow campaigner of David Kato from the organisation SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), emphasised in a press release that all attempts at intimidation would not prevent the organisation from continuing its work in the future. "David was murdered and many will follow, but we will not stop our work until the fight for justice and equal rights is won."
Nevertheless, a few weeks ago, the courts in Uganda prohibited the newspaper from continuing to publish the names and addresses of homosexual people. David Kato was happy and relieved about this decision. At the same time, however, he told me that the mood against homosexuals in the country is becoming increasingly hostile. Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda and can be punished with many years in prison.
A memorial service for the homosexuals persecuted and murdered under National Socialism was held in Berlin on Thursday. It was remembered that thousands of gay men were deported to concentration camps, tortured and murdered. "We must not allow this horrific part of our history to be repeated anywhere in the world," says Silke Klumb, Managing Director of Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe. "All state and non-state actors who are committed to human rights must utilise every opportunity to take action against the persecution and murder of gays and lesbians."
Commemoration: Saturday, 29 January 2011, 3 pm, in front of the Ugandan Embassy in Berlin, Axel-Springer-Straße 54, Kreuzberg. The event is organised by the Ecumenical Rogate Initiative organised.
