We mourn the loss of Ugandan gay activist David Kato, who was brutally beaten to death last week in his home. While police were quick to announce that robbery was the motive, many LGBTs and allies are not so sure. Anti-gay sentiment has been running high in Uganda for a couple of years now, ever since a group of U.S. evangelicals visited the African nation in 2009. Since then, the country has been debating a repressive anti-homosexuality bill. That bill would imprison for life anyone convicted of "the offense of homosexuality;" punish "aggravated homosexuality" (repeat offenses, or having gay sex while being HIV-positive) with the death penalty; forbid "promotion of homosexuality" and incarcerate gay-rights defenders; and jail individuals in positions of authority for up to three years if they fail to report within 24 hours the existence of all LGBT people or sympathizers known to them. More recently, the Ugandan newspaper Rolling Stone (no relation to the U.S. publication of the same name) splashed photos of 100 gays and lesbians in its pages a few months ago, and published Kato's picture on the front, under a banner reading "Hang Them." He knew, friends told the New York Times , that he was a marked man.
The Ugandan government must condemn Kato's murder. It should go further and begin a national dialogue condeming anti-gay violence that has been pervasive in that country. It's deplorable that a newspaper is able to call for the death of people because they are gay.
Here, in this country, the evangelical leaders who visited Uganda a couple years ago also bear responsibility for what has become a witch-hunt. And it's telling that, in the years since their visit, these men have attempted to distance themselves from the anti-gay conference in which they participated.
The U.S. evangelicals' 2009 visit to Uganda was designed to stoke fear and hatred of gay people. While some of the ministers have backpedaled, there's no doubt in our mind that they went to the country to rile up people. And their plan worked. Rolling Stone said that gays were raiding schools and recruiting children. Both are widespread beliefs in Uganda, even though they are wrong, and both help drive the homophobia in that country.
That was brought home with the evangelicals' 2009 visit. One of the participants, Don Schmierer, told the Times last week that he focused on "parenting skills" at the conference, in an effort to distance himself from the rampant homophobia in Uganda. The theme of the event was "the gay agenda," the Times and other media outlets reported last year. It was a three-day confab that, participants said, was attended by thousands of Ugandans – police officers, teachers, and political leaders. We're sure they heard about "parenting skills" from Schmierer, probably along the lines of how it's bad for a child to be raised by same-sex parents. He issued a statement after he appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, where he explained that he did go to Uganda to promote his new book, An Ounce of Prevention: Preventing the Homosexual Condition in Today's Youth. He tried to explain how he disagrees with Caleb Lee Brundidge and Scott Lively, two other evangelicals who spoke at the Uganda conference, on some gay-related issues. His statement also said he was opposed to the anti-homosexuality bill. Despite his words to minimize his hatred and homophobia, Schmierer is on the board of Exodus International, a group that claims it can "cure" same-sex attractions, but which relies on junk science, with a heavy dose of conservative Christianity thrown in.
For his part, Lively, according to a Times article last year, acknowledged meeting with lawmakers in Uganda to discuss the anti-homosexuality bill. After being confronted, however, he backed away and said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.
Now, Uganda's leading gay advocate has been brutally murdered. And the evangelicals don't think they're part of the problem. They are indeed pushing this effort to demonize gay people and export homophobic violence. And in Uganda, they found a willing audience, eager to buy into their lies and falsehoods to the point that people are being murdered with impunity.
Grassroots activists are organizing a memorial for David Kato Sunday, February 6 at 5:30 p.m. on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place.