The Associated Press is reporting that a Kampala newspaper has printed a list of Uganda’s 100 “top homos” — the list was published only five days before the first anniversary of the introduction of legislation that could lead to the execution of gays and lesbians in the country. Across the front page of the newspaper in bold letters the headline reads: “100 Pictures Of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak” along with a “Hang Them” banner.
AP also reports that at least four Ugandans on the list have been attacked and others are in hiding.
Image via GayUganda.
The paper’s editor is defending the incitement to violence saying it’s “in the public interest.”
“We felt there was need for society to know that such characters exist amongst them. Some of them recruit young children into homosexuality, which is bad and needs to be exposed,” he said. “They take advantage of poverty to recruit Ugandans. In brief we did so because homosexuality is illegal, unacceptable and insults our traditional lifestyle.”
For more on the lives of gays and lesbians in Uganda, see Xtra freelance reporter Kaj Hasselriis’s series of reports, “Xtra reports from Uganda.”
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