Uganda Newspaper Publishes Names, Addresses And Photographs Of Country’s Alleged 100 “Top Homos;” Says “Hang Them”

Deeply disturbing news from Uganda, the front-page of the newspaper Rolling Stone published photographs of men it claimed where a part of gay membership, the headline reading “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak,” overtop of which a yellow banner read “Hang Them,” according to the Associated Press. The article inside included the names and addresses of the men, and since its publication at least four men on the list have been attacked, several more have gone into hiding. The article appeared in Rolling Stone (a relatively new publication, not in any way affiliated with the American magazine) October 9th, five days prior to the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the legislation proposed by David Bahati (whom is involved with Rolling Stone) that if passed would have proposed the death penalty for certain aggravated acts of homosexuality and life in prison for others. That bill was quietly shelved, however several gay say that they have endured increased harassment and attacks since its introduction, 27 year old Patrick Ndede, saying “Before the introduction of the bill in parliament most people did not mind about our activities. But since then, we are harassed by many people who hate homosexuality. The publicity the bill got made many people come to know about us and they started mistreating us.” Inside the Rolling Stone issue an article claims that unknown, but deadly disease was attacking homosexuals in Uganda, as well as a suggestion that gays were recruiting one million children by raiding schools. Immediately after the October 9th issue was published, the Ugandan Media Council ordered publication cease, but only because the newspaper – whose first edition appeared August 23rd – had not registered with the government. Once paperwork is completed, it can resume publication. The edition of Rolling Stone, Giles Muhame, said the article appeared “in the public interest” and that “We felt there was a need for society to know that such characters exist amongst them. Some of them recruit young children into homosexuality, which is bad and need to be exposed. They take advantage of poverty to recruit Ugandans. In brief we did so because homosexuality is illegal, unacceptable and insults our traditional lifestyle.” Frank Mugisha, the chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, however, said “Such kind of media should not be allowed in Uganda. It is creating violence and calling for genocide of sex minorities. The law enforcers and government should come out and protect sex minorities from such media.”