Ugandan gay paid to lie

A man who was paraded in front of news media by a Ugandan pastor campaigning for the death penalty anti-homosexuality bill says he lied for money.

In 2009, claiming to be an ex-gay, George Oundo told a press conference organised by pastor Martin Ssempa that GLBT rights groups were receiving foreign money to “recruit” schoolchildren into becoming homosexual.

Oundo appeared at another Ssempa-organised press conference in support of the bill last week at the Ugandan Parliament, claiming to support it.

“I was recruited into homosexuality many years back, when I was 12,” Oundo said. “Please help us. Let the bill pass.”

Ugandan ex-gay group leader Paul Kagaba claimed to have been initiated into homosexuality by murdered gay rights activist David Kato, who he claimed had raped him.

However, an hour later Oundo told journalists from The New York Times that he had always been gay and had only spoken at the press conference to protect himself and because Kagaba had paid him to attend.

He said Ssempa, who made headlines around the world by showing hardcore pornography to large public gatherings to stir up support for the bill in 2010, had offered him $2000 to make his 2009 claims but later did not pay him.