Uganda Gay Activist Murdered

[SlipknotRlZZ]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12295718

I really want to turn my head away from all those countries that claim homosexuallity illegal because it just hurts too much to hear about all the atrocities that go on there. But I hope I never do.

[marshlander]

Such horrible news. David Kato was a very brave man.

[marshlander]

There will be a Vigil in memory of murdered gay rights activist David Kato outside the Uganda High Commission Trafalgar Square, London, tomorrow (Friday) morning at 11:00. The High Commission is located on the south side by the start of Pall Mall - nearest Tube station is Charing Cross.

THE MURDER OF DAVID KATO - STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA "I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder of David Kato. In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate. He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work. At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate. In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered. It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable. LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights. My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad. We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all. "

[Genersis]

I can't say this surprises me in the slightest.:frown:

[SrChulo]

Read it this morning, terrible and very saddening news.

[toomuch45]

:frown::frown::frown:

[East]

I will always consider David Kato a hero...because in my eyes he is.

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” - Norman Cousins

David Kato LIVED

[marshlander]

Just occasionally, especially at my age, one attends a funeral and knows that the eulogy does not reflect the life of the deceased. My grandmother's funeral made me very angry for the very reason that it was a conveyor belt event and the man who conducted the service clearly knew nothing about her extraordinarily hard life. Shakespeare knew it when Mark Anthony delivered his famous speech in Act iii Sc ii of Julius Caesar. I am not a great fan of glossing over the evil that men do, just because they have died.

I never knew David Kato. However, what I do feel is that he made a courageous and honest decision to stand up for what he believed to be justice in the face of what must have felt like overwhelming odds. Not only was he facing the full force of superstitious bigotry from his fellow countrymen, but that bigotry was also being fuelled by the cynical and heartless intervention of American born-again salesmen.

I have a experienced mixed and sometimes conflicting feelings at funerals, including sorrow, loss, grief, anger, shame, relief ... I have been pulled different ways by these emotions. It is strange that if

The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interréd with their bones

a funeral service often reflects the opposite. The funerals that seem best to me to reflect my feelings manage somehow to strike a balance between these extremes.

David Kato was buried yesterday. His family, friends and supporters managed to find plenty to praise. What a travesty that God's local representative had to go all Shirley Phelps. I shed a tear or two reading how the friends and family ended up ended up burying his body themselves.

Scuffles at funeral of Uganda gay activist | Reuters

[The Virgin]

this is just downright sad and depressing.