FEATURED POST

Biden Commuted Their Death Sentences. Now What?

Image
As three men challenge their commutations, others brace for imminent prison transfers and the finality of a life sentence with no chance of release. In the days after President Joe Biden commuted his death sentence, 40-year-old Rejon Taylor felt like he’d been reborn. After facing execution for virtually his entire adult life for a crime he committed at 18, he was fueled by a new sense of purpose. He was “a man on a mission,” he told me in an email on Christmas Day. “I will not squander this opportunity of mercy, of life.”

Ugandan paper ordered to stop publishing 'gay list'

Image source: Gay Uganda
(CNN) -- A judge has temporarily ordered a tabloid in Uganda to stop publishing lists identifying people it claims are gay after an advocacy organization filed a lawsuit.

The order came a day after Rolling Stone -- which has no relation to the iconic U.S. music magazine -- published a list of people it said were gay, urging readers to report them to police.

Last month the tabloid published names, photos and address of 100 people that it called the country's top gays and lesbians, alongside a yellow banner reading, "hang them."

In the temporary injunction issued on Monday, Justice Musoke Kibuuka ordered Rolling Stone from further publication of names or pictures of anyone "perceived by the respondents to be gay, lesbian, or homosexual in general."

The head of Sexual Minorities Uganda, which filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Rolling Stone, praised the judge's decision.

"This is a lesson. At least the law has shown some intelligence. It shows the media cannot invade other peoples' rights and violate other peoples' privacy," said Frank Mugisha, the organization's chairman.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 23, said Giles Muhame, the tabloid's managing editor.

"We will abide by the ruling and will not contest it. We were told we cannot publish any information that can lead to identification of homosexuals," he said. "Meantime, we shall continue condemning homosexuality, without publishing pictures."

Gay rights groups in Uganda have said at least four people have been attacked since the tabloid published its first list.

A bill that would make homosexuality potentially punishable by death is working its way through Uganda's parliament.

While extreme views to many, in Uganda even this sentiment holds some weight. Uganda is a mostly Christian country where local and international, particularly American, evangelicals hold great sway.

Just under two-thirds of Uganda's Christians favor making the Bible the law of the land, according to a huge study of religion in Africa by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Together with Ugandan politicians and preachers, they have lobbied for greater punishments for gays.


Source: CNN.com, November 2, 2010

Comments

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Biden Commuted Their Death Sentences. Now What?

Saudi Arabia executes Somali national, Saudi citizen

Singapore | Pannir set to be executed on Feb 20

U.S. | AG Bondi orders federal inmate transferred for execution

Louisiana schedules back-to-back executions for next month

He wanted his father’s killer to be executed. Until his wish was granted

Food for Thought

Texas executes Richard Lee Tabler

Florida executes James Dennis Ford

South Africa | 'First openly gay imam' shot dead