By J.S. Mayanja-Nkangi, Chairman Uganda Land Commission

Kampala

UGANDA is experiencing an internationally orchestrated crescendo of demands for "rights" by the homosexual fraternity: male, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transvestite. Essentially, these "rights" reduce to only one; the absolute, non-negotiable, "right" to enjoy sexual pleasure man with man, woman with woman; with the bisexual exploiting the pleasures of both worlds and the trans gender coveting and securing the sexual pleasures which both God and his or her heterosexual parents did not give him or her.

The transvestite is apparently ambivalent as to which sexual genus to firmly pursue, but fits him or herself somehow. Thus this alleged right is pure sexual hedonism or the relentless pursuit of sexual pleasure for its own sake. The gays' claim to legitimatised same sex unions or marriages is purely ancillary to the sexual pleasures and is merely an insurance or security for accessing and enjoying same sex sexual pleasures. What is implicit here is a claim to the 'right to sex' and this should be readily conceded as a human right, which is universally-accepted. However, the mode of sexual activity is a societal, rather than a human right and can only be sanctioned by the community in accordance with the moral, cultural, religious or legal norms of that particular community. Sodomy and lesbianism are modes of sex and are, therefore, subject to societal regulation by sanction or prohibition in conformity with a community's interests.

30 people gave a press conference drawing attention to the state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia they face every day.

By Tony Grew

Her Majesty the Queen visited a clinic for people with AIDS for the first time today.

During a state visit to Uganda the monarch shook hands with Steven Wakodo, who is HIV+, echoing the famous handshake between Diana, Princess of Wales and an HIV+ person in April 1987.

The Princess's gesture helped overcome the fear of AIDS, demonstrating that the HIV virus cannot be transmitted by touch.

"The scourge of HIV infection and AIDS has touched the lives of too many Ugandan people," Her Majesty said in a speech to patients and staff.

"Centres such as this, which the government of Uganda has done so much to encourage, are essential in achieving our common aim of controlling this cruel disease."

By Tichaona Sibanda

The regime of Robert Mugabe appears to be in no rush to end its self-imposed exile from the Commonwealth, as 52 heads of state prepare to meet in Kampala, Uganda this week.

The three-day meeting, which starts on Friday, will be held under a substantial campaign to pressure delegates on issues relating to abuses of human rights. The summit is held every two years and will also discuss the political and economic development of its members.

Speaking in Kampala over the weekend, the Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon urged human rights organisations to speak out against abuses, saying the practice was unacceptable in the Commonwealth.

Political commentator Glen Mpani told Newsreel that contrary to government reports, Zimbabwe has lost a lot of investment opportunities since it opted out of the grouping. He said the country also lost many partnerships within the Commonwealth and would certainly have survived an economic downfall had it kept its place in the group.

By Tim Cocks

KAMPALA (Reuters) - For President Yoweri Museveni, the 53-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that Uganda is about to host, is a chance to put his nation on the map, attract foreign investment and lure tourists.

But for the east African nation's main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), the meeting starting on Friday is an opportunity to draw the world's attention to what it says are regular and gross abuses of its citizens' freedoms.

The FDC plans to test the police by holding demonstrations.
 

"We want Uganda's human rights record on the agenda at CHOGM," FDC member of parliament Beti Kamya told Reuters.

"We are disappointed with the international community for entrenching this dictatorship for their own interests."

By Tim Cocks

KAMPALA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of cheering Ugandans lined the streets of the capital, Kampala, on Wednesday night to welcome Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on her first visit to the east African country since 1954.

She arrived accompanied by Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, for a two-day state visit ahead of the 53-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Men cheered, women ululated and children waved flags with the summit's logo -- a Ugandan crested crane with a globe -- as her motorcade swept through central Kampala after a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni near the airport.

"It's a real pleasure," said John Ojeda, a traffic policemen. "She's brought us a lot of joy. Her coming here brings the message that there is peace in Uganda now."

Uganda won independence from Britain in 1962, but two decades of dictatorship and a civil war followed until Museveni seized power and restored stability to most of the country in 1986.

The Queen, who heads the Commonwealth grouping of mostly former British colonies, will visit an AIDS clinic and a primary school in Kampala on Thursday before opening CHOGM on Friday.

The summit is likely to be dominated by Pakistan, which risks being suspended unless President Pervez Musharraf lifts a state of emergency and steps down as army chief there.

Ugandan media have whipped up excitement about the Queen's visit for days, indulging in nostalgia for Uganda's peaceful pre-independence era. Few Ugandans seemed to have anything bad to say about their former Empress.

"I couldn't wait to see her," said Elizabeth Njuba, 23. "I never got the chance before -- I was too young when she was here last. I'm so happy."

By Tony Grew

A leading advocate for LGBT rights in Africa has joined the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).

Victor Juliet Mukasa is well-known internationally for her activism in her home country of Uganda in the face of state opression.

She is to become IGLHRC's new Research and Policy Associate for the Horn, East, and Central Africa.

There have been a series of government-backed attacks on the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the last few years.

In 2005 Ms Mukasa's house was raided by police in the middle of the night by local government officials who seized documents and other material.

Another lesbian activist, Yvonne Oyoo, a Kenyan student who was in Juliet's house on the night of the raid, was arrested and detained by local government officials and then taken to a police station.

Both women are suing the government over their treatment.

The leading Muslim cleric in Uganda, Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje, has come up with a novel solution to deal with gay and lesbians speaking up in the country.

He told journalists at a press conference that he had recommended to the country's President at a meeting last week that all gay people should be sent into exile on an island in Lake Victoria.

"If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country," he added.

There has been rising tension in the country over gay and lesbian rights.

Ugandan law outlaws homosexuality as "against the order of nature." Trans people are also targeted by police and regularly subject to abuse and harassment.

Uganda IDAHO chapter formed

KAMPALA, October 28, 2007 – A Uganda chapter of International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has been launched in Uganda following a successful meeting attended by over 100 gay men and women, transgender people, human rights activists and other supporters.

“Never before has there been such a far reaching well organised and professional gay public debate in this country,” said Pastor Kiyimba Yususf Brown who is the country coordinator for IDAHO.

(Kampala) Uganda's leading Muslim cleric has proposed to President Yoweri Museveni that gays be rounded up and marooned on an island in Lake Victoria until they die.

Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje told reporters of his plan following a much publicized meeting with Museveni.

"I asked President Museveni to get us an island on Lake Victoria and we take these homosexuals and they die out there," Mubajje told a news conference.

"If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country."

Others at the meeting reportedly said that the president did not respond to the suggestion.

By Chris Ocowun
Kampala

A UPDF soldier attached to the 43rd Battalion has been arrested for killing his wife.

While at a party at Parabongo displaced persons camp in Amuru district on Saturday, Private Denis Omona alleged that his wife, Auma Margaret Akio, had infected him with HIV and shot her.

Lt. Chris Magezi, the northern army spokesperson, yesterday said Omona injured two other people who were admitted at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor.

Omona will be tried by the Court Martial, Magezi said.

"We condemn acts of indiscipline among the UPDF soldiers. It is not an act of the army as an institution," he stressed.

The army paid for Akio's burial expenses.

The 4th Division operations officer, Lt. Col. Deo Sserwada, attended the burial.

THE Minister for Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, has vowed to block the demand for recognition of gay’s rights, reports Conan Businge.

“The Government shall do whatever it takes to block the spread of homosexuality.”

People who are agitating for those rights are selfish individuals with callous intention, Buturo said, adding that: “They are trying to impose a strange, ungodly, unhealthy, unnatural, and immoral way of life on the rest of our society.”

“I will endeavour to block it. I can assure you on that. Let them go to another country, and not here,” the furious Buturo said.

By Mary Karugaba
Kampala

GAY rights activists have asked President Yoweri Museveni to support their campaign on the rights of homosexuals. This is contained a September 24 letter, which was also copied to the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi.

The letter was delivered to the Office of the President yesterday by Jacqueline Kashiya of Freedom and Roam Uganda, an organisation that advocates for the rights of homosexuals. Roam also fights HIV/Aids and domestic violence organisation.

Kashiya declined to reveal more details of the letter, saying it was confidential but said the media would be briefed on Friday.

"We have just delivered two letters, one to the President and another to the Speaker of Parliament. There are some issues we want them to address," Kashiya told journalists at Parliament yesterday.

Parliament spokesperson Helen Kaweesa said the group greeted the President and informed him about the upcoming public campaign for the rights of homosexuals.

They are seeking his support in case of attacks from the security forces and other groups, she said.

The letter did not mention when the group would hold the event, Kaweesa added.

Bounce back

By Fred Mwesigwa
Kampala

The dictum that when America (I prefer western world) sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold gains credence when one looks at the confidence and boldness that homosexuals in Uganda exhibited on August 16, 2007 when they held their first press conference.

After centuries of campaigning and legal battles by gay rights groups in western countries, homosexuality is now widely accepted, but most important legal.

Why Ugandan transgender activist Victor Juliet Mukasa is taking on the Government in an historic court case.

Victor Juliet Mukasa began ‘transgressing gender’, as she puts it, right from childhood. It brought no end of trouble. She was raised as a little girl by her family and treated as one at school, but she rebelled and was punished for doing so every step of the way. ‘I was really too young to know what I was going against.’

As she grew older the problems were compounded. A lucrative job slipped from her grasp because she could not stomach wearing the clothes expected of her. ‘If I wear a skirt or a dress, then it affects my brain. I cannot think about any other thing. I am concentrating on how I look.’

What’s your view on gays and lesbians’ demand for their rights?

Published statements made by Ugandan citizens:
 

Ugandans are God-fearing people, so homosexuality has no room in our motherland Uganda. Richard Ojambo, Busia

Religion aside, historically, no culture accepts homosexuality and cannibalism. Those are human values. We should stick to them. Richard Musisi, MUK

Legalizing homos is like endorsing adultery or murder. While we can't legislate peoples' morals, neither should we just sit back and let social evil evolve into law. As a Christian I love homos but I hate homosexuality. Tom Mutete, Kampala

Whoever supports Homos should be admitted to hospitals, Qur'an and Bible talks about this. Guidance or counselling if at all any NGO can help our own brothers and sisters, God pardon them and show them that right path. Babu Umar, Lira

These gays and lesbians all over the world are unbelievable. In science we learn that same charges/poles repel as unlike ones attract. So?
Bakora F.X, Entebbe

Why condone what God condemns? It is an abomination nothing less ( Lev 18: 22). Homos defile the land and bring God's punishment. Pastor Mathias Sserugo, Jinja

The order of nature starts with animals and gets refined at human level. Since you have not seen gay dogs or pigs, human gays are merely depraved. Ben

Gays and lesbians should realise that since they were born they are obliged to produce too. What should be demanded is help so as to lead normal lives. Lisbet

It is not good to treat gays and lesbians like non-Ugandans, let us develope our nation with these people. Julian Ann Kyambogo

The issue of rights should be streamlined otherwise murderers will soon also advocate for a right to kill. Amos Irota Wandera, Tororo

Am totally against this nonsense of homos and lesbians we cannot live when such inhuman beliefs, our morals will continue to decay. Desmond Kenyi, Arua

Perhaps your readers should get off their moral high horse and respect the autonomy of all of God's children. Simon B

Let the gays-lesbians speak so that the public is educated, recognition will follow we hate animosity. Bishop C. Senyonjo

http://www.monitor.co.ug/oped/sms09121.php

The following is the official response of SMUG (a coalition of three LGBTI organizations in Uganda) to publication of "Gay List" in that country.


As a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexed (LGBTI) human rights organization we strongly contest the information recently released in the Red Pepper tabloid exposing gay men in Uganda.

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) stands for the liberation of LGBTI people and shall not surrender to such homophobic occurrences as those that the Red Pepper came up with.

We believe in freedom for all regardless of sex, sexual orientation, creed, color or race. We stand for the realization of this freedom and we shall not tolerate any injustice made towards the LGBTI community.

We are tax paying and responsible citizens of this nation and nothing should make us less of human beings or Ugandan citizens.

We refuse to sit back and let such unfair acts happen to our people. We shall do all that it takes to liberate our people because that is the freedom we all deserve.

“Our brothers whose names were published in the Red Pepper tabloid are currently under-going discomforts and are living under unbelievable fear of being arrested, ostracized by their families or sacked from their jobs”.

SMUG is therefore making a loud call to everyone who believes in the rights of human beings to stand up and protest along with us to put an end to such injustices against LGBTI and other marginalized people in Uganda.

The Red Pepper is also hereby advised to stop this outing of individuals without their consent otherwise you will be held accountable for any consequences of the outings.

There is no shame attached to being homosexual but it should be an individual’s choice about how and when they want to share such personal information with family, friends and colleagues.

===============

SMUG is a coalition of three LGBTI organizations in Uganda; Freedom and Roam Uganda, Spectrum Uganda and Integrity Uganda.

Sexual Minorities Uganda
P.O.Box 70156 Clock Tower
Kampala
Uganda

Email: sm_ug2004@yahoo.com
Website: www.smug.4t.com

The Uganda Broadcasting Council (UBC) has suspended a popular Capital FM radio presenter for hosting gay activists who used "foul language" on air, effectively silencing a renewed debate on gay and lesbian rights, reports Kenya-based IFEX member the Media Institute.

Gaetano Kaggwa, who co-presents Capital FM's morning show, hosted a gay man and a lesbian on 22 August who allegedly used what UBC considers "unacceptable language", thus "violating minimum broadcasting standards." During the show two co-presenters opposed homosexuality while Kaggwa had "no problem with it," the Media Institute reports.

By Alfred Wasike
Kampala

A COALITION of religious groups has lashed at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), accusing it of promoting homosexuality. The anti-gay group said the letter the HRW's director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights programme, Scott Long, wrote to President Museveni was based on a false assumption that homosexuals were 'born that way'.

In the August 23 letter, Long called for the reform of existing laws against homosexuality and an end to what was described as 'a long record of harassing' lesbians, gays, bisexual and trans-gender people.

By Rodney Muhumuza
Kampala

THE majority of Ugandans do not support demands by gay activists that homosexuality be decriminalised, according to a new survey.

Some 95 per cent of Ugandans said homosexuality should not be legalised, while a paltry 4 per cent said they support its legalisation, a new Steadman poll shows. And at least 1 per cent said they do not have an opinion on the subject, according to the poll, which was conducted at the end of July.

Thousands of Ugandans took part in anti-gay rally in the capital Kampala, asking the government to sustain the ban on gay sex, despite immense pressure from the international community.

The Spokesman of the Interfaith Rainbow Coalition Against Homosexuality, Pastor Marin Sempa, said the development is a clear indication that Ugandans condemned gay sex.

Uganda is billed to host the Commonwealth Summit in October this year. Ahead of the event, the East African country has been under strong international pressure to lift a ban on same sex affairs.