*In a repeat of the horrific 2006 outing of gays and lesbians, the Ugandan weekly tabloid, Red Pepper, outed 50 people in yesterday’s paper. Many of those named are Human Rights Defenders and members of SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) including Frank Mugisha and Victor Mukasa who recently won a landmark case against Uganda’s Attonery General.
The personal details of each person including physical descriptions and in some cases photographs are published on under the headline “Top Homos in Uganda Named”. Details like “Name -He is a Don. He is short and slender and drives a blue car”. Some of the captions include the street where the person lives and their work. Whilst the language is cheap, nasty, ignorant and sensational this is an act of extreme viciousness which could endanger the lives of many of those outed. It was only September last year when many of Uganda’s human rights activists had to flee the country after two activists were tortured and forced to give up the names of their colleagues. Many of those outed could end up loosing their livelihoods, their homes and their families and all this done under the banner of Christianity and some sick distorted morality.
* Decided to hide photos as it just exposes people even more.
