Amani Wright
1/21/11
10:11am
Uganda's Gay Rights Struggle
On October 2nd of 2010, an article was published in Uganda's weekly magazine, Rolling Stone, singling out and insinuating promoting violence against specific homosexuals. The article, titled "Hang Them," included photographs, names, and even details about where some of the men lived.
Jacqueline, Kato and Patience, three of the named men in the article, sued Rolling Stone for putting their lives in danger by suggesting that they be harmed. This month on the third, the High Court of Kapala, the nation's capital, awarded the plaintiffs 1.5 Ugandan shillings each, under the ruling that their constitutional rights had been violated.
Even though homosexuality is illegal Uganda, it is also illegal for the media to release any personal information about people who they think might be homosexuals.
Giles Muhame, the Rolling Stone editor, says that his intentions were not to promote violence against the men mentioned in the article, but he is intending to continue his campaign against homosexuality.
According to the director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre at the Faculty of Law at Maekerere University in Kampala, Oloka-Onyango, this ruling was a breakthrough and a huge win for human rights.
It is stated in the article, and a running theme in the world, that the west has been negatively affecting the world. While we may see our ways of life as progressive, others see our changes as taboo. This would explain why other cultures fight so hard to keep rules rather than letting law evolve with human beings.
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