Ugandan Gay Activist Kisule Beaten To Death

Posted by Greg Laden on January 27, 2011
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There is a report of David Kato Kisule’s death in a blog post at Gay Uganda here. And this:

Joint statement of the European Parliament’s Intergroup of LGBT Rights: Death of David Kato…

We are deeply saddened by the murder of David Kato Kisule, yesterday 26 January in Kampala, Uganda. David was a lifelong human rights defender; he will be remembered for his outstandingly brave defense of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s human rights in Uganda. Our condolences go to David’s family and friends.

As Sexual Minorities Uganda’s Advocacy Officer, David had come to the European Parliament on several occasions to expose the plight of LGBT people in Uganda, notably in the wake of David Bahati’s ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ (sic). Following the publication of lists of presumed homosexual Ugandans by tabloid Rolling Stone, and subsequent attacks on LGBT activists, David bravely faced the Rolling Stone editors in a lawsuit, obtaining the condemnation of the paper and a strong High Court judgement on the universal right to life and dignity.

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And a statement from the European Parliament.

And this at JMG.

Why is this happening? It started with the missionaries. Then The Family got involved. This has to stop.

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  1. #1 Jason
    January 27, 2011

    I am sure he wasn’t murdered because he was a homosexual. He was murdered for a complex set of reasons, and of course his homosexuality was part of it, but mostly it was about supporting state’s rights to not have homosexual people living in them. (sorry, I’ve been reading that other thread).

  2. #2 daedalus2u
    January 27, 2011

    Pretty good case for gay people from Uganda to be granted asylum in the US for religious persecution. Persecution in the name of religion is religious persecution too.

  3. #3 Bill James
    January 27, 2011

    A handgun might have saved him. (sorry, I’ve been reading that other thread).

  4. #4 Drivebyposter
    January 27, 2011

    A handgun might have saved him.

    For a second. Armed reinforcements would probably have shown up to finish him. Or he’d be charged with murder and executed quickly. Or something else. I don’t see any way he would make it out with his life, this way he can’t be seen as a villain for using a gun on someone. In a country with a lot of weapons and everyone (including the government) wants you dead, a room full of guns won’t help you much. Especially if there’s blood on your hands, no matter how justified.

  5. #5 gwen
    January 27, 2011

    Exposing and ostracizing ‘The Family’, getting all of the god bots out of Uganda, educating and teaching critical thinking to the populace might save the next person, so David Kato will not have died in vain.

  6. #6 Timberwoof
    January 28, 2011

    Twenty years ago, Colorado for Family Values had a hissy fit over Denver’s civil rights ordinance and proposed an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that legalized discrimination against gay people. It seemed to me that the fight to overturn Amendment 2 was shouldered by gay people alone. Since then I have seen an amazing and heartening change in people’s attitudes: rational people everywhere are unafraid to support civil rights for everyone (including gays) and I don’t hear them being called names for it (much).

    Thank you, Greg.

    That said, the Americans responsible for exporting this kind of nastiness should at the very least be ashamed of themselves. Their denials suggest that they know they are doing evil. Unfortunately, “hypocrisy” doesn’t seem to be a vice when they’re doing it.

  7. #7 paddym
    January 28, 2011

    “Americans” are ‘responsible’ for this? Jeez this is the dumbest garbage i have ever read. A horrible crime committed by Ugandans to another Ugandan. Oh wait, Africans are like little children and only Whites from the states teach them what to think….

  8. #8 Ashley Moore
    January 28, 2011

    7. @paddym

    So you believe propaganda only works on children? The advertising industry has been wasting its money all this time!

  9. #9 Stephanie Z
    January 28, 2011

    +1 internets to Ashley.

  10. #10 Greg Laden
    January 28, 2011

    paddym, you are speaking out if ignorance. Instead of insisting that this must be wrong because the assertion does not match something you were already thinking, why not consider the possibility that you can learn about something new? Or do you have a personal, political, or even racial motivation to avoid the truth?

  11. #11 Gibson
    January 28, 2011

    hi Laden. I am in Nairobi and have just herd about the murder .hope there are no demos.? update us. Please

  12. #12 Timberwoof
    January 28, 2011

    paddym, did you follow the links in TFA? American missionaries have been preaching homophobia over there for years. Or do you think they accomplish nothing?

  13. #13 Rob Jase
    January 28, 2011

    Horrible – those murderers violated one of the sacred 10 commandments!

    I’ll bet they have to say three ‘Hail Mary’es before Jesus forgives them.

  14. #14 paddym
    January 28, 2011

    ha yeah it must be ‘racism’ that motivates me. What was I thinking? Uganda has such a great track record of tolerance when it comes to minorities And I am pretty sure countries other than western ones do the whole homophobia thing just fine without Americans intervening. But just blame Americans for Uganda’s ignorance. To say The Great Whitey with Bible made this happen is so patronizing.

  15. #15 paddym
    January 28, 2011

    @ timberwoof : the Skydaddy patrol has been over there preaching abstinence as well. How’s that workin’ out? Has everyone been brainwashed into practicing that too? I think the attitudes that exist in certain countries,religions and cultures are the responsibility of its members. Crazy idea I know….

  16. #16 Stephanie Z
    January 28, 2011

    paddym, now you’re just making shit up. Which non-Christianized Ugandan events are you comparing this too?

    The facts of the matter are that “The Great Whitey with Bible” has intervened in Uganda–and pretty much anywhere else that missionaries haven’t been excluded. There is no doubt of this. It’s well documented. And the missionary tradition is not a tradition of live and let live, by definition. In fact, it is decidedly the opposite. There is a rabidly conservative (white, Western) Christian influence in Africa that has publicly lobbied for the criminalization and death of gays.

    The person making patronizing assumptions is you. The idea that this would just naturally happen without that perverted influence is absurd.

  17. #17 Stephanie Z
    January 28, 2011

    Also, if your argument depends on equating the strength of the human sex drive with some theoretical drive to homophobia, you’ve already lost it.

  18. #18 paddym
    January 28, 2011

    Homopobia didn’t exist in Uganda prior to these idiots showing up? That is laughable.
    You are making the argument, nay stating it as fact, that the message these dummies brought to Uganda caused this. Yet you seem to be able to cherry-pick the influences these dopes have had ; they are incredibly skilled at ‘brainwashing’ Ugandans in to killing gays, yet somehow lose their magical powers when pushing the abstinence message. I think the attitudes that exist there were pretty much firmly entrenched.
    I could not agree more that missionaries have screwed up the places they have taken their lies. but stop putting the blame for this culture of hate at the feet of white missionaries. I cannot believe these responses are on a ‘science’ blog…

  19. #19 Greg Laden
    January 28, 2011

    And I am pretty sure countries other than western ones do the whole homophobia thing just fine without Americans intervening. But just blame Americans for Uganda’s ignorance.

    Actually no. You really are ignorant of the situation, which I’m sure will not stop you from your politically motivated yammering. The prior ethnography of the region, of which there is quite a bit, shows that there is not any sort of widespread homophobia in non-christianized groups. It was introduced by the cristian missionaries. We know this. Indeed, even in the rural areas today of the region (and having lived there for a few years I can say something about this) homosexuality is not looked down on outside of the context of the missions.

    F

  20. #20 Greg Laden
    January 28, 2011

    Paddym thinks he can waste my time in private by sending me emails making his argument. But this argument is for public discussion and edification. So here’s the email exchange between him and me:

    Paddym: I am tired of homophobia being blamed on them dumb “Ammmuricans” . I find religion repellent. I also fully support gay rights; I was raised by a gay man. People need to stop shifting the blame for this kind of barbaric behaviour.
    too bad you feel the need to hold my comments.
    paddym

    My response:

    You are a paranoid moron and an idiot. I don’t hold your comments. The comment moderation system holds various comments for various reasons, I have much less control over it than you might think. You owe me an apology for that comment.

    Regarding homophobia in Uganda, again, you are a moron and an idiot. Read my most recent comment in response.

    I never blamed homophobia in the Americans. I do blame a good part of it on the Missionaries, most of whom in Uganda are English. But you would not understand the subtleties of my argument because you are not paying attention.

    The Americans, however, in the form of The Family, are to blame for the current anti gay movement going on in Uganda. This was engineered by The Family.

    Please take the argument back to the blog.

    Note to “paddym” … next time I have to copy your email into the comment section it will include your real name and other details. I make no privacy guarantees via email.

  21. #21 paddym
    January 28, 2011

    Yes, I absolutely do owe you an apology for that comment. So here it is: I am sorry I made said assumption. It was hasty and uncalled for.

  22. #22 Greg Laden
    January 28, 2011

    I’m sorry if I was unclear about the source of the missionaries.

    Good. We can be friends now.

  23. #23 Timberwoof
    January 28, 2011

    Paddym, in the United States, leaders of religions that ordinarily can’t stand each other will combine forces to exert (illegal) political influence on elections about civil rights for gays. For example, the Catholics allied with the Mormons to get California’s Proposition 8 passed. Colorado for Family Values was backed by all sorts of Christian organizations. I was rebuked for my “No on 2″ button. Was I against Jesus? “A vote for 2 is a vote for Jesus!” (Google Colorado Amendment 2 for context.)

    There is nothing to suggest that they would not behave any differently in other countries. Indeed, Rachel Maddow presented a lot of evidence to back up Greg’s and my claims. Did you follow those links?

  24. #24 paddym
    January 29, 2011

    I did TW, and i am still amazed that a country like the US has such a problem with the GBLT community. We have gay marriage here and the sky didn’t fall.
    That said, Uganda did a pretty good job on its own practicing the worst kind of xenophobia/anti-semitism imaginable under Amin (a Muslim) and it didn’t take a bunch of missionaries to make that happen. He persecuted and killed homosexuals as well. This did not just suddenly occur with the arrival of these kooks from America.

  25. #25 paddym
    January 29, 2011

    Dunno how accurate this is, but Uganda appears to be one of the most intolerant countries in Africa in regards to homosexuality…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Uganda

  26. #26 Drivebyposter
    January 29, 2011

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Anti-Homosexuality_Bill
    “The proposed legislation in Uganda, however, has been noted by several news agencies to be inspired by American evangelical Christians.[1] A special motion to introduce the legislation was passed a month after a two-day conference was held where three American Christians asserted that homosexuality was a direct threat to the cohesion of African families. ”
    Here’s a short video that briefly includes one of the guys who partially inspired the bill. There’s a full episode about it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU0dwjsLCUU
    Interview with David Bahati who says that evangelical Americans inspired and privately support the bill. He also says it’s insulting to imply that Ugandans can’t think for themselves…but didn’t actually deny that there was outside influence. It seems like typical political tactics transcend western politics.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CUC20pLDO4&feature=channel

  27. #27 Greg Laden
    January 29, 2011

    This did not just suddenly occur with the arrival of these kooks from America.

    When do you think the missionaries got there?

    Idi Amin is not typical of anything. Please. Let’s try characterizing people from Wisconsin by holding up Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeesh.

  28. #28 Ssempa Nelson
    January 29, 2011

    It is so sad. Violation of human rights in Uganda is so high. I am in Uganda and know what it means. This is the time for the Ugandan police to show us it is working. Last year our neighbour was stabbed in his house to death but know investigation were done and many more people have died in a mysterious way but all investigations don’t even take off unless when its concerns removing the government or if it concerns the first family and friends.This is just a few of the many atrocities which come to your hears of the violation of human rights and torture. May his soul rest in peace.I might be next for this comment.

  29. #29 paddym
    January 29, 2011

    Thanks drive-by, for your post. Hopefully more will heed it. Missionaries,sadly, have been in Africa for a long time. While i have always been disgusted by the anti-gay message of religion, I doubt the missionaries called for the death of gays outright.
    Here is a clip of Ugandans expressing their views. They seem pretty hateful and ignorant on their own. The guide also identifies himself as a Christian as well.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1S8xY4JKi0&feature=related
    I never said Amin was typical. But he was able to play on the fear of his people about minorities, so much so that they fled in fear….

  30. #30 paddym
    January 29, 2011

    kinda related and sad, Senegal stands up to ‘pro-gay western lobbying’….

    http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/Activists-Out-Senegal-for-Anti-Gay-Persecution-87151697.html