Protesters marched to the Uganda House in Midtown Feb. 3rd to call attention to the murder of David Kato in Uganda. The activist was slain in late January four months after he, along with other gays and lesbians, were outed by a local paper. His death came just weeks after he won lawsuit against the paper for publishing his name under the headline, “Hang Them.”
The demonstration – which drew more than 200 protesters, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn – was organized by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) to pressure the Ugandan government to launch a full investigation into Kato’s murder.
IGLHRC and other human rights organizations in New York are backing Ugandan LGBT rights groups in their efforts to stop violence against sexual minorities in Uganda. Attacks on LGBT Ugandans increased after anti-gay legislation was proposed in Uganda’s parliament in 2009. Just a little over a week after the march, IGLHRC Executive Director Cary Alan Johnson was set to speak on a panel of LGBT activists at a Congressional briefing in Washington about Uganda’s pending anti-homosexuality bill and the rise of homophobic violence in the African nation.
