‘Hang the Gays’ newspaper told to stop outing

‘Hang the Gays’ newspaper told to stop outing

A Ugandan tabloid has been ordered to stop publishing one month after it threatened to out 100 gay Ugandans.

In two articles last month Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper published the names and photos of dozens of people it claimed were Uganda’s “top gays” alongside the slogan “hang them!”.

Articles published in the newspaper claimed the existence of an international conspiracy by the UN and Western countries to recruit a million Ugandan school children to homosexuality by 2012.

Late last week a Ugandan High Court judge granted an injunction against the newspaper in a court challenge mounted by Ugandan GLBT rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda.

Justice Vincent Musoke-Kibuuka ruled the publication of the names and photographs of 29 people to be “an infringement or invasion of the right to privacy” and ordered the newspaper to close.

However the editor of the newspaper, Giles Muhame has already told media he will defy the ban and carry out his threat to out 100 gay and lesbian Ugandans as part of “the war against gays”.

A number of those already identified by the newspaper have been harassed and subjected to violence since the articles were published, with one woman reportedly nearly killed and driven from her home.

Uganda is currently considering a bill which would imprison homosexuals for life and the death penalty for repeat offenders and HIV positive persons engaging in gay sex. The bill also outlaws any kind of public or private expression of a gay identity and would penalise anyone who assists a homosexual individual or group.

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2 responses to “‘Hang the Gays’ newspaper told to stop outing”

  1. Strike Uganda of the list of destinations and open the doors to Ugandan asylum seekers.