Rolling Stone, which has no connection to the US magazine of the same name, had a banner across its front page which read “hang them”.

The article, published earlier this month, claimed that the men and women were trying to “recruit one million innocent kids”.

The weekly newspaper began publishing six weeks ago and its editor, Giles Muhame, defended the list and said authorities could use it to arrest gays and lesbians.

Human rights activist Julian Onziema told Associated Press that at least four people on the list had been attacked since it was published, while others are in hiding.

Julian Pepe, 29, who works for Sexual Minorities Uganda, was named in the list. Although she is an out lesbian, her parents are supportive of her.

She told CNN: “People have been attacked, we are having to relocate others, some are quitting their jobs because they are being verbally abused. It’s a total commotion.”

The government’s media council has ordered Rolling Stone to cease publishing – but because of incomplete paperwork, rather than the article.

When the newspaper organises its paperwork, it will be free to continue publishing.

The article was published just five days before the one-year anniversary of the ‘kill gays’ bill, which received worldwide condemnation.

The bill, introduced by politician David Bahati, called for the death penalty or lengthy prison sentences for gays and lesbians.

It was shelved earlier this year.

According to a post on BBC:

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from a bill proposing execution for some gay people.

He stressed that the MP who proposed the bill, who is a member of the ruling party, did so as an individual and was not following government policy.

Mr Museveni, who admitted coming under international pressure, said the bill was now a “foreign policy issue” and would be discussed by the cabinet.

The proposals have caused a storm of criticism across the world.

Sweden has threatened to cut aid and other countries have contacted Mr Museveni directly to put their objections.

It’s all about the money perhaps, and it’s good to know that economic sanctions still play a huge part in controlling what otherwise might be catastrophic outcomes in the human rights arenas…one again, simply going to show that getting one’s attention can be as easy as taking hold of their wallet.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com

EU Slams Uganda’s Anti-Gay Law

From News24.com:

The European parliament called on Ugandan authorities to scrap a controversial proposed law that would punish homosexuality with life in prison.

The parliament called on the authorities “not to approve the bill and to review their laws so as to decriminalize homosexuality”.

Observing that homosexuality is legal in only 13 African countries and a punishable offence in 38 others, the MEPs said the proposed Ugandan laws could have a domino effect on other nations “where persons are or could be persecuted because of their sexual orientation”.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com

Gay Couple in Uganda

It was reported that the “death penalty” for being gay in Uganda had been removed from the current legislation facing their lawmakers, but upon further investigation, that may not be the case.

The Ugandan bill still seeks to extend existing laws making it illegal to “promote homosexuality” by talking or writing about it, and by scaring Ugandan citizens into telling the authorities about anyone they know who is gay, through the threat of imprisonment if they do not.

According to Bahati, an MP from the ruling party, the bill is directed at protecting “the cherished culture of the people of Uganda against the attempts of sexual rights activists seeking to impose their values of sex promiscuity on the people of Uganda.”

It also looks as though Uganda isn’t alone in their anti-gay crusade in Africa. Nigeria now has a similar bill expecte to be placed into law, and the Nigerian government currently allows the death penalty for homosexuality in northern states. Sudan has the same law. Burundi joined 37 other African nations earlier this year in criminalizing homosexuality. Egypt and Mali are also seeking to pass morality laws against same-sex couples.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com

Black Ugandan Lesbian Couple

A proposed anti-gay law could make Uganda perhaps the most dangerous place for homosexuals and drive the gays of Uganda further underground. In a rare interview, the first of its kind with a newspaper journalist, a lesbian told Saturday Monitor’s Rodney Muhumuza why she is very scared.

The Sunday before last, Val Kalende listened quietly as her pastor’s sermon digressed into a soft tirade against homosexuals. “We may even have one in our midst,” the cleric told a congregation of about 50 born-again Christians.

If Ms Kalende did not know her pastor to be an honourable man, a father figure, his sudden anti-gay remarks would have left her shifting uncomfortably in her chair, wondering if those dreaded words were meant for her.

In the end, the woman who also serves as a minister, regularly taking her place on the worship team at her church of eight months, chose to let it go. It would not be her last time there.

Ms Kalende’s chosen place of worship is a small church somewhere in Zana, in Wakiso, not too far from her Namasuba house, past a stage for motorcyclists who have made it a habit to ask if she is a man or a woman.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com