Bobi Wine Bottoms Out of UK Tour

We're bored of uploading pictures of Bobi Wine, so we thought we'd use an artist's impression this time.

Startling resemblance.

After the petition against this homophobic singer (we hesitate to use the word 'entertainer' as that would imply there is something entertaining about him), we have a result:

‘Burn the gays’ rapper axed from UK venues

Representatives from the Troxy Theatre in London and the Drum Theatre in Birmingham confirmed they told promoters for rapper Bobi Wine their establishments would not allow someone who promotes discrimination.

Good call, UK. 

Shame the Border Agency didn't rule it out first.

Meanwhile: Bobi Wine’s brother arrested with missing school girl

Sweden Resumes Aid

Unimpressive announcement by Sweden today, who have decided to resume direct aid to Uganda:

The Swedish embassy in Kampala announced Monday it will provide $200 million (£117.8 million) in development support to Uganda over the next five years...

In a statement issued by the foreign ministry in Stockholm last Thursday, Engstrom also said: “I will specifically monitor the situation of women’s rights and LGBT rights..."

How is that Engstrom, by putting on a blindfold and sticking your fingers in your ears?

In case you hadn't noticed, gay people don't have any rights. Especially where access to healthcare is concerned. I'm sure Sweden's six-month slap on the wrist is already forgotten. 

US U-Turn on International Homophobia

The Bill's Primary Sponsor Rep. John Tierney

We read this article with interest:

New House Bill Seeks To Make LGBT Rights Abroad A State Department Priority

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives Wednesday would bolster the State Department's ability to fight discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals abroad, its bipartisan sponsors say.

The bill would direct the department to make LGBT rights a foreign policy priority, develop a strategy to prevent LGBT discrimination and appoint a special envoy to handle those efforts.

The envoy would help coordinate activities between the State Department and other governments, non-governmental organizations and -- if appropriate -- the private sector to address LGBT discrimination globally...

Why are we so surprised by this?

Because it was only last year that the US Supreme Court was saying the exact opposite:

Supreme Court Limits US Courts’ Ability to Use Human Rights Law to Address Human Rights Abuses Committed Abroad

Still, who are we to argue with progress? 

Whilst we're onthe topic, a good article by Kevin Watkins: Time to Act on LGBT Rights in Africa, which advocates a change in approach by foreign countris:

While gay rights are advancing in the world's richest countries, across much of Africa they are in retreat. Homosexuality is illegal in 36 of the region's 55 countries. Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people are being criminalized through draconian legislation. Gay Nigerians face up to 14 years in prison and their Ugandan counterparts face life. In a particularly ugly twist, Ugandan citizens are also required to report on 'gay suspects'...

Ultimately, civil rights struggles are fought through domestic politics. In Africa, as in Harvey Milk's America, the struggle for LGBT will be won by people forming broad alliances for changes. Western governments cannot deliver change. But they can do far more to support the people who can.

And, finally, food for thought: Don’t Blame Yesterday’s Colonialism for Today’s Homophobia

Quaker Railroad Helps 107 LGBT Ugandans

With all the Christian organisations promoting discrimination against gay people, claiming that they're Nazis, and selling coffee to raise funds to persecute them, it is truly refreshing to see one Christian organisation trying to help Uganda's LGBT community.

'Underground Railroad' Ferries Gays Out Of Uganda

A group of Quakers calling themselves Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR) formed to take action and help gays and lesbians in Uganda escape persecution.

So far they have assisted an estimated 107 people to escape from Uganda, leaving egg on the face of Scott Long from Human Rights Watch whose most constructive comment was:

This is not the kind of stuff that well-meaning amateurs can do

Well, apparently it is Scott. 

Margret Nazziwa

Margret Nazziwa

What is it about the UK and Ugandan lesbians?

After a protest outside the Home Office, Margaret Nazziwa was informed that she was to be released instead of deported yesterday. 

That's a better result than being deported like Prossie N or murdered like Jackie Nanyonjo.

Congratulations Margret, we hope that you can start to rebuild your life after Yarls Wood.

US Sanctions Overview

Although the US aren't the only country imposing sanctions or speaking out against the Anti-homosexuality Bill, they are the ones coming under closest scrutiny.

Here's a comprehensive rundown of the sanctions the US have in place at the moment.

The KKK - Sorry, CCC.

The Campus Crusade for Christ, CCC, also known simply as 'the Cru' to its homies, is a US evangelical mission bent of sowing the seeds of homophobia in Africa.

The Christian Do-Gooders Secretly Attacking Gays

Remarkably, CCC is No. 20 on Forbes magazine’s list of the largest charity organizations in America, with $548 million in annual receipts in 2013, $503 million of which are donations. (Presumably the rest are Cru-branded sweatshirts.) This is an impressive achievement, to put it mildly—most of the other top 20 are household names such as United Way and the Salvation Army. 

As its former name implies, Cru is best known for its campus outreach: Bible study groups and the like. But it also has a powerful international arm—there are a lot more eligible converts in Africa than at your typical college kegger, after all—which runs missionary work and conferences... 

According to Truth Wins Out, CCC has been active in Uganda for more than a decade, bringing Holocaust revisionist-turned-anti-gay zealot Scott Lively to the country in 2002.

If you fancy messing with them a little, like sending your spent copies of Out Magazine through the post, here's the address:

Cru

New Life Resources

665 Highway 74 South, Suite 350

Peachtree City, GA. 30269

Tel: 1-800-827-2788

Or, to offer your (sperm) donations: 1-888-278-7233

Mon.-Fri. 8:00a.m.-5:00p.m. Eastern Time, Select Option 1 or 2 

It would seem they accept more than one option in automated telephone forwarding, but not in love.

You can also find their domain registry info on WhoIs.

Meanwhile: Obama’s Evangelical Gravy Train: Despite the president’s promise to cut funding to discredited HIV and pregnancy prevention programs, taxpayer dollars are still bankrolling anti-gay, anti-choice conservative religious groups.

Hillary Clinton 'Ridiculed' by Museveni

Yes, it's a plug for her book, but what the hay. It's always interesting to learn about behind-the-scenes politics. Or behind-the-Scene in this case.

In her new memoir Hard Choices she says she unsuccessfully urged President Museveni to halt the passage of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. 

“He ridiculed my concerns,” she says. 

Clinton has also revealed her anger at the 2011 murder of Ugandan LGBT rights campaigner David Kato. 

“David was killed in what police said was a robbery but it was more likely an execution,” Clinton writes.

Yeah, you know it Clinton. But whatcha gonna do about it?

How about giving those who promoted his murder a cushty job at the UN?

Biden & Stipe Speak Out

US Vice President Joe Biden

A busy week for speaking out. 

US Vice President Joe Biden made a rousing speech about the sanctity of human rights globally:

“I don’t care what your culture is,” Biden told about 100 guests at the Naval Observatory’s vice presidential mansion, The Associated Press reports. “Inhumanity is inhumanity is inhumanity. Prejudice is prejudice is prejudice.” 

Biden said that nations which fail to protect LGBT people have a “price to pay for being inhumane.” Biden agreed with White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice’s comments earlier this week that global discrimination against gays is a cricitical international human rights issue at the top of the U.S. priority list. 

“Governments are responsible for protecting the rights of all citizens, and it is incumbent upon the state, and on each of us, to foster tolerance and to reverse the tide of discrimination,” Rice said earlier on Tuesday. “To achieve lasting global change, we need everyone’s shoulder at the wheel; With more voices to enrich and amplify the message — the message that gay rights are straight-up human rights — we can open more minds.”

And, following in the footsteps of Elton John, REM lead singer Michael Stipe added his voice to the mix by releasing a video prasing LGBT Ugandans for their courage.

Uganda Hitting Vulnerable People

Oh diddums.

The Ugandan Government claims: US sanctions over anti-gay law hits vulnerable hardest

If there's anyone who knows about hitting vulnerable people, it's the Ugandan Government. They even beat up peaceful protesters.

Whereas it's true that persecuting LGBT people is bad for the economy:

Since passing laws mandating the life in prison for “homosexual acts” in February, Uganda has seen its currency weaken considerably, with US dollars now costing nearly 6% more since the day the law was signed. 

Much of the aid money is being re-routed to local NGOs, working directly with vulnerable people, rather than continuing to go to politicians who corruptly pocket the money for a new mansion or a BMW. 

It's a bit of a change of tune for a government that was only a few weeks ago saying 'we don't need international aid.'

Sam Kutesa now President of UN General Assembly

(click to enlarge)

It's fairly hard to argue with a sentiment like that on a day like today.

Ugandan minister wins key U.N. post despite anti-gay law

Uganda's Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa was elected president of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday despite concerns among human rights advocates, Western governments and U.N. officials about his country's recently adopted anti-gay legislation. 

After his election by acclamation without a vote in the 193-nation General Assembly, Kutesa pledged to promote gender equality and women's rights and to continue a United Nations drive to eradicate poverty and combat climate change. He did not raise the issue of gay rights.

Of course he didn't, and nobody made him.

Besides, who's listening to Navi Pillay anyway? She's only a woman after all, and she makes the old boys at the UN uncomfortable with all her talk of queers.

UK's Legacy of LGBTI Abuse

Harriet Nakigudde

The UK seems to be on a one-track persecution mission against Ugandan lesbians at the moment:

• Jackie Nanyonjo (murdered)
• Prossie N (deported)
• Aidah Asaba (awaiting deportation)

And now Harriet Nakigudde:

UK to deport lesbian to Uganda for ‘being single for five years’: A 30-year-old woman who was raped by her uncle, leaving relationships traumatic, will be deported tomorrow

The UK government will be deporting a lesbian back to Uganda as she has been single for five years.

Harriet Nakigudde, 30, applied for asylum in the UK fearing for her life because of her sexuality.

The asylum seeker, who first came to the country in 2009, fled her native country after an event that left her deeply traumatized.

In 2008, her uncle raped her to ‘cure’ her sexuality. Following this, her family disowned her and she was forced to leave Uganda.

The UK's treatment of vulnerable women is disgusting, and their detention centres are already known for sexually abusing inmates. The international community is horrifically failing Uganda's abused LGBT victims.

UN Consider Kutesa for President of General Assembly

Sam Kutesa, Ugandan Foreign Minister

[UPDATE: Sam Kutesa is now President of the UN General Assembly.]

You remember that guy who said:

[T]he [Ugandan] government does not support the promotion of homosexuality,just like we cannot promote prostitution.

Yeah, the same guy who resigned in 2011 over corruption allegations?

Yeah - that one.

Well, the UN want to appoint him President of the General Assembly.

Just like the Commonwealth lauded chief homophobe Rebecca Kadaga.

This, just weeks after the UN Human Rights Commission issued a statement saying they support LGBTI rights.

Do they hell.

The UN couldn't give a crap, if their actions are anything to go by.

SIGN PETITION AGAINST KUTESA'S UN APPOINTMENT

Also, a good article by Jay Michaelson, which sums up the situation: The U.N.’s Next President Is a Gay-Hating Friend of Uganda’s Corrupt Dictator

Canada Goofs Up

Just like the UK, Canada had paid a great deal of lip service to LGBTI rights in Africa recently, yet completely fails to deliver when it comes to actions.

Ugandan gay activists denied visas to World Pride conference: Canada has refused to issue visas to 10 Ugandans over concerns they'd stay to seek asylum

Renowned Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha is the only Ugandan delegate who has a valid visa as the keynote speaker at the World Pride human rights conference in Toronto...

Gay rights advocates say the decisions by the Canadian visa posts in Nairobi and London speak to the hypocrisy of the Stephen Harper government, which, in February, joined other Western nations in condemning Uganda for passing one of the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality laws.

“We are shocked and appalled. These individuals from Uganda are some of the most courageous heroes,” said Andrea Houston of #ENDhatelaws, a coalition founded in response to homophobia/transphobia across the globe, amid the controversy over anti-gay laws passed in Russia prior to the Winter Olympics.

“They are here to share their stories and have every intention to go home after the conference, because they all have work to do in Uganda. The assumption is they are here to claim asylum. The question is: Why can’t they, coming from the most hostile place in the world to LGBTQ people?”

The 10 men and women — all working in precarious conditions to support Uganda’s LGBTQ community — are among 160 speakers and 400 delegates from over 40 countries invited to the June 25-27 conference at the University of Toronto.

This is a decision that Canada's authorities are now promptly reviewing, having realised how stupid they look for holding an international gay pride event that discriminated against gay people.

[UPDATE: Canada eventually decided to grant the visas.]

Navi Pillay Speaks Out

Navi Pillay

After her memorable video calling on the world to respect LGBT rights last year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has written an article repeating this point.

Prejudice Fuels the Denial of Rights For LGBTI People Worldwide

RECENTLY, new laws have been adopted to punish, or silence, lesbians and gays in a number of countries. Such laws, and the resulting discrimination — which often affects transgender people too — violate universal human rights...

In reality, homosexuality is a fact of nature, observed in every human society throughout history. It has been tolerated for centuries in many societies, and has only recently surfaced as a political issue. There is no evidence whatsoever that homosexuals “target” children more often than heterosexuals do — paedophilia is a crime, whether the perpetrator is homosexual or heterosexual, and nobody wishes to change that. Calling for an end to the persecution of LGBT people is a call to end discrimination and violence, a basic premise of our universal human rights. It is unrelated to same-sex marriage, a topic that societies may choose to debate at the national level. Furthermore, religious freedom does not mean the freedom to persecute, or to act with prejudice and bigotry.

To counter these prejudices, my office last year launched Free and Equal — an unprecedented United Nations campaign to raise awareness of the rights of LGBT people. We did so because human rights are for all human beings. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is just as irrational, just as wrong, as discrimination on the basis of skin colour and just as clearly violates human rights.

Free & Equal is a United Nations campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender equality. We particularly like their slogan: Love is a Family Value.

Congratulations Clare Byarugaba

Clare Byarugaba

Congratulations to Ugandan LGBT rights activist Clare Byarugaba, who has just been named  2014 Oak Human Rights Fellow at Colby College, America.

Clare Byarugaba, an award-winning Ugandan human rights defender who works for gay and lesbian rights in a country that recently criminalized homosexuality and the “aiding and abetting of homosexuality,” has been named the 2014 Oak human rights fellow at Colby College. Byarugaba is co-coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which was founded in 2009 to fight homophobia in Uganda and act on behalf of the LGBTI community. 

Byarugaba helped organize Uganda’s first gay pride event, lobbied against the country’s anti-homosexuality bill, and now pushes for its repeal despite the threats that work imposes.

Keep up the fantastic work!

Kerry Snubs Museveni

"What's that Museveni? I can't hear you."

Unlike the UK, who appear to embracing Museveni and his anti-gay rehtoric with open arms, the US seem to be taking a different tone.

Kerry Maintains Museveni's International Isolation

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry set off for his five-nation tour of Africa on May 1, the expectation was that the conflict in South Sudan would dominate. It did not.

The first indication of this was when Kerry's itinerary was announced and it emerged that he would be skirting Uganda and Kenya and not meeting with presidents Yoweri Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta, the main drivers of the effort, respectively, to protect the legitimate government and end the conflict in Juba.

...part of the reason the Kerry-Museveni-Kenyatta meetings did not happen could be down to the U.S's agenda at home...

Although President Museveni is the U.S's leading ally in the regional peace effort in South Sudan and the DR Congo, and the war against terror in Somalia, the American government has publicly ostracised him since he signed into law the Ant-homosexuality Act in February.

The U.S. President, Barack Obama warned Museveni: "enacting this legislation will complicate our valued relationship with Uganda".

Uganda can hardly be considered a stabilising force in East Africa anymore, yet alone a world player in international politics with its policy of actively persecuting its own people.

Wake Up Call for Museveni

Jackson Mukasa and Kim Mukisa, the two Ugandans facing trial for homosexuality, have been granted bail.

Meanwhile, Yoweri Museveni, the president who assented the anti-gay law, received a rude awakening in London today.

Protests at hotel interrupt speech by anti-gay Ugandan President

Protests from Ugandan’s and supporters of the equal rights movement interrupted a speech given by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni at the hotel where he is staying while visiting London.

Noise from drums, vuvuzelas and chants could be heard from outside the St James’ Court Hotel on Wednesday, in a protest organised by the African LGBTI Out and Proud Diamond Group. President Museveni is in the UK for a forum promoting business between Uganda and the UK – and was disrupted when he attempted to give a speech to Ugandan citizens living in the UK with businesses.

Trial Delayed for LGBT Ugandans as Activists Picket President in London

LGBT Ugandans and allies staged a protest outside a London hotel where President Yoweri Museveni was speaking, while the first LGBT people to face formal charges for gay sex were granted bail.

Two LGBT Ugandans who were scheduled to face formal charges of "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" were granted bail Wednesday, the day their trial was to take place, for the first time since they were arrested in January...

There are some excellent photos of the protest on that second article.

Meanwhile, Huffington Post questions why on earth Museveni was invited to speak in the UK in the first place? 

Stoning Gays to Death? Life in Prison for Being LGBT? Britain Cannot Stay Silent Any Longer

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been in London this week as the honoured guest of the Commonwealth Business Council. Among those welcoming him to the grand surroundings of Lancaster House just down the road from the House of Commons and Buckingham Palace was the UK's Minister for Africa. Yet just 10 weeks ago President Museveni made it punishable by life imprisonment to be a lesbian or gay man in his country. Anybody daring even to speak up for the rights of LGBT citizens can now go to jail for seven years.

Probably for the same reason the Commonwealth promoted Rebecca Kadaga to head of women parliamentarians?

Ignorance, arrogance, and a complete disregard for the rights of LGBT people worldwide.

Flora Seggane to be Deported

[UPDATE: Flora has been granted asylum until 2019.]

The UK's track record on LGBT human rights is shocking, murdering Jackie Nanyonjo and deporting Prossie N just in time to witness the new anti-homosexuality bill being introduced.

Now they're about to do the same to Flora Seggane, who fled persecution in Uganda in 2002:

A lesbian facing deportation to Uganda says she fears for her life if she is forced to return to her homeland. 

Flora Seggane, of Francis Road in Leyton, fled the country in 2002 and moved to the UK on a two-year working visa after being disowned by her family because of her sexuality. 

The 55-year-old claims her family previously tried to “cure” her sexuality by dosing her with medicines and she was forced her into marriage at the age of 18, enduring 20 years of abuse at the hands of her husband... 

Recounting her experiences in her homeland, she said: “I got caught at school with another girl and they told my parents. That’s when they started cutting my wrists and giving me medicines to try and cure me for being a lesbian.

Obviously the UK asylum system, in its infinite wisdom, reckons it will be much safer for her to return to Uganda now that she faces life imprisonment for her sexuality. 

Given the amount of sexual abuse occurring in UK detention centres, there may be little difference between where she is being held now and a prison in Uganda.

The UK's human rights system could be considered a joke, only there is nothing funny about it.

TAKE ACTION

Fax/Email the Home Office - Demand that Flora Seggane's removal is cancelled and that she is released from detention.

Home Secretary Theresa May: 

mayt@parliament.uk Fax: 020 7219 1145

Immigration Minister:

ministerforimmigration@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

And copy to the following Home Office & UKBA addresses:

citto@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

ukbapublicenquiries@ukba.gsi.gov.uk

Shame on South Africa

As Ugandan police raid an HIV project assisting gay people, and deny that the bill is unconstitutional (despite it being unconstitutional), South Africa wades in to spread the love of Nelson Mandela by throwing its support behind the persecution of gay people:

SA respects Uganda anti-gay laws: Zuma

Responding to a parliamentary question on whether he intended to clear South Africa's policy position regarding Uganda's anti-homosexuality law, Zuma said: "South Africa respects the sovereign rights of other countries to adopt their own legislation." 

"In this regard, through diplomatic channels South Africa engages with Uganda on areas of mutual concern bearing in mind Uganda's sovereignty," Zuma said through a written response to the National Assembly.

Hardly surprising from a country where a teenager was murdered at an LGBT 'rehabilitation' camp, and whose key ambassador to Uganda, Jon Qwelane, has himself been convicted of anti-gay hate speeches.