Ugandan Gay Rights Activist Beaten to Death

Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights

Gay bashing has real consequences.

And in Uganda, where gay bashing is common sport, it can be blamed for taking the life of activist David Kato who had his name and photo appear in an anti-gay newspaper under the headline "Hang Them."

Kato was beaten to death with a hammer by an intruder who entered his home.

Though police said robbery appeared to be the motive since some items were taken, gay activists say that Kato's outspoken defense of gays was more likely the reason he was targeted for death.

I think they are right.

The gay activists are blaming U.S. evangelical leaders including Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, for fostering a climate of hate against gays when during a lecture series in Uganda in 2009.

A month after the conference held by the evangelical leaders, David Bahati, a Ugandan politician and religious leader, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatened to execute gays and drew the condemnation of the civilized world.

In an interview on the 'Rachel Maddow Show' in December, Bahati said that while gay rights might fall under human rights in many parts of the world, gays will find no such protection of their rights in Uganda where conservative Christian organizations hold great political power.

Bahati also said that gays had an organized effort to recruit children into the lifestyle but offered no proof of his claim when pressed by Maddow, who is gay.

While American anti-gay crusaders may have planted some seeds of hatred among the people of Uganda, it is Bahati and his comrades in Uganda who have blood on their hands in the death of Kato.

Is it that surprising that the bigoted words of some so-called religious leaders in Uganda led to violence?

As a straight man, I have never understood why some other straight men like the evangelicals are so concerned about what goes on in the bedrooms of gay men.

If gay men, of proper legal age, want to have sex, is it anyone else's business?

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