LGBT activist comments after newspaper prints list of '200 top' homosexuals скачать в хорошем качестве

LGBT activist comments after newspaper prints list of '200 top' homosexuals

(25 Feb 2014) A leading Ugandan gay rights activist said on Tuesday that a local newspaper's decision to publish a list of what it called the country's "200 top" homosexuals has made him think more about his own security. The article outed some Ugandans who previously had not identified themselves as gay just one day after the president enacted a harsh anti-gay law. The Red Pepper tabloid published the names - and some pictures - of alleged homosexuals in a front-page story under the headline: "EXPOSED!" The list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Pepe Julian Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that Uganda's new anti-gay law could spark violence against homosexuals. Onziema, born a woman, is transgender and refers to himself as a man. "How am I going to be able to keep speaking out?" He said. "And yet people in my country know my face, they know my voice, they know the work that I do - I have not been ashamed about it." US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday's signing of the bill by President Yoweri Museveni marked "a tragic day for Uganda" and warned that Washington could cut aid to the government of the East African nation. However Onziema warned that cutting aid could end up not just affecting the government. "Do not intimidate our president, do not intimidate our people," he said. "Maybe you can intervene at this point, but only make sure it does not trickle down to affecting us - because we are part of this Ugandan community." The news editor of the Red Pepper, said they published the full names of only the well-known activists and had tried to use nicknames for those not publicly gay. The paper offered no details about how the full list was compiled. Few Ugandans identify themselves publicly as gay, and the tabloid's publication of alleged homosexuals recalled a similar list published in 2011 by a now-defunct tabloid that called for the execution of gays. A prominent Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, was killed after that list came out, and activists said at the time that they believed he was targeted because of his work promoting gay rights in Uganda. Uganda's new-anti-gay law punishes gay sex with up to life in jail. The bill originally proposed the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults and acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV. First-time offenders also face life in jail, contrary to an earlier version of the bill that mentioned a 14-year jail term. The new law also creates the offences of "conspiracy to commit homosexuality" as well as "aiding and abetting homosexuality," both of which are punishable with a seven-year jail term. Those convicted of "promoting homosexuality" face similar punishment. Homosexuality has long been criminalised in Uganda under a colonial-era law that outlawed sex acts "against the order of nature." Some Ugandan lawyers and activists have said they will challenge the law in court as unconstitutional and impossible to implement. The Ugandan law - which came just over a month after Nigeria passed a similar measure against gays - has been condemned around the world, although it is widely popular among Ugandans. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...