Eyes open, But still blind...

Reading this article, one can be frustrated by the apparent lack of logic. Why are people who are sane and well meaning, so blind to somethings? Why does sex and sexuality have to be so complex for adult men and women? Many questions. The answers are not so many.


Anyway, here is the article.

Homosexuality blamed for HIV/Aids spread in prisons

ISAAC KHISA & CHRISTINE KATENDE

Kampala

Homosexuality has been identified as one of the factors that have contributed to high HIV/Aids prevalence among male inmates.

A report released yesterday by the United Nations on Drug and Crime shows that HIV/Aids prevalence in male prisoners is at 13 per cent whereas among the females it stands at 11 per cent out of 490 prisoners surveyed throughout the country in 2008.

This rate is however higher compared to the national HIV/Aids prevalence that stands at 6.5 per cent.

A total of 392 male and 98 females were interviewed in addition to focus group discussions and HIV/Aids testing and counseling.

This was revealed during an advocacy and policy dialogue meeting on prisons health services on HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis in Kampala yesterday. The Commissioner General, Dr Johnson Byabashaija, attributed the high rate among male inmates to  homosexuality. He however, said many inmates are coerced into homosexuality.

“The highest numbers of inmates are normally convicted when they are already infected with HIV/Aids,” Dr Byabashaija said.

Mr Byabashaija said there’s need to educate inmates about the dangers of homosexuality.

He said homosexuality is an offence that carries a two or three year jail term.

Sharing razor blades was also cited among ways the disease is spread.

The Executive Director of the Aids Information Centre, Dr Raymond Byaruhanga, said the country still has a lot to do in the fight against the epidemic given that it is higher among the inmates.

The country has 1.5million people living with HIV/Aids but only 175,000 receive ARV treatment.

Some of the fantastic things which have happened in prison include this. There has always been an HIV prevention programme in prison. Know what they teach? Homosexual sex spreads HIV. So, a young man has a 20 year prison term, and, what should happen to him?

Does he live the hormones outside the prison gates? Seems to be an unreasonable thing. If even catholic priests and monks are not celibate...!!!!!! Why the hell imagine that prisoners would be celibate?

Anyway, there has always been an HIV prevention programme in Uganda's prisons. Teaching that 'homosexuality' spreads HIV. And promoting masturbation.

To prevent the evils of homosexuality, you cant take margarines and oils to a prisoner. Because they can be used as anal lubricants. And of course, you cant distribute condoms to prisoners.

And, most ironically, each prisoner receives a box of condoms on discharge from the prison.....!

Yeah, back, and cynical as ever.

gug

Hurrah! Case Dismissed!

Uganda LGBTI HIV/AIDS Activists Acquitted of Trespass Charges

15th August 2008

Uganda LGBTI HIV/AIDS Activists Acquitted of Trespass Charges

Today 15th August 2008 at Buganda road court before grade I magistrate Olive Kanyange Mukwaya and a fully packed court room that included LGBTI activists from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and around the world.

The prosecution told court that the Director of Public Prosecution – DPP has dropped the charges of trespass against Pepe Juliana Onziema, Valentine Kalende and Usaam Mukwaya.

The magistrate court therefore dismissed the charges against the three and acquitted them.

It was a moment of joy and happiness for the LGBTI community of Uganda who were flocked by the media out side the court room.

Background:

On 4th June 2008 , three Human Rights Defenders were arrested during the just concluded HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting in Kampala. They were objecting to the exclusion of Sexual Minorities from the HIV/AIDS Prevention programmes in the country.

After two days and nights of detention in police cells, the three: Pepe Julian Onziema, Valentine Kalende and Usaam Mukwaya were charged with Criminal Trespass, a charge that carries a one year jail term according to section 302 of the Penal Code of Uganda. They were released on bail on the 6th of June 2008. They appeared in court for several hearings , today court acquitted them of the above charges

SMUG and the entire LGBTI community of Uganda would like to express our gratitude to you all for the love and support.

Thank you,

www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org

“Justice and equality”.

LGBTI ACTIVISTS COURT UPDATE

1st August 2008

Today at Buganda road court in Kampala, the case against the three LGBTI activists Usaam
Mukwaya, Onziema Julian Pepe and Valentine Kalende .

Started with prosecution asking court for an adjournment since their witnesses were not
present in court. The magistrate asked whether prosecution had the police file and
answer was yes.

The defence lawyer requested that adjournment be denied because the said absent
witnesses had not even recorded statements with police, they had no names and addresses
and hence he wondered how they could testify.

The magistrate however adjourned the case to 8th August and requested the prosecution to
summon the investigating officer and close their case. However a few minutes later, as we walked out of court , one witness appeared and the magistrate accepted to continue with the hearing.

The state witness Mirondo Fred, a 30 year old Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP)
and the divisional CID officer Central Police Station Kampala, said he knows the accused
because he saw them at Kampala central police station when they were arrested for
criminal trespass at a conference at imperial Royale Hotel, although he could not
correctly identify them by their names.

He said every participant was supposed to be invited and provided with an invitation
card yet the three accused had accessed the conference hall with out the cards. He also
said he had recovered a list from the ministry of health that had names of invited
participants but the names of the three LGBTI/HIV-AIDS activists were not on the list.
Prosecution produced this list in court.

The defence lawyer asked Mr. Mirondo whether that was a list of participants or
delegates to the conference to which he said they were participants. However on reading
the document, it read delegates. Defence pointed out a couple of prominent members of
society including Honourable minister Maria Mutagambwa, Dr. Apuuli Kihumuro who
participated in the conference but were not on the delegates list, hence not all
participants in the conference were delegates.

The defence lawyer further asked who the complainant in the case was, Mr. Mirondo said
it was a participant in the conference called Opor Nicholas. But Mr. Opor Nicholas was
not a participant and had even appeared in court on 8th July as a state witness in this
matter. Opor Nicholas was only part of the security at the conference. Thus no
participant at the conference filed a complaint.

To prove that this is a case of homophobia, defence lawyer asked Mr. Mirondo if he loves
the LGBTI/HIV-AIDS activists to which he said, “I did not like or love them” but later
he changed his statement and said he did not "I do not like or hate them”.

He insisted that the LGBTI/HIV-AIDS activists were not invited participants and the
magistrate asked him how he knew that yet he had claimed that the invitation list was
too long for him to go through it.

The defence lawyer told court that at the beginning of the hearing, prosecution said it
had only three witnesses but it was increasing the number of witnesses as the case goes
on with out informing the accused which is against the law. Hence the fear that they may
be manufacturing witnesses. The defence lawyer asked court, that the prosecution
presents the names and statements of its next witnesses to him and his clients.

Prosecution said they would call the investigating officer AIP Malenge, woman detective
AIP Mutabazi and a witness from the ministry of health for next hearing.
The magistrate ordered the prosecution to provide all the names and statements to the
defence lawyer before the next hearing. The case was adjourned to the 15th of August
2008 at 9:00 am.

Scared Goat

Ok,

I admit it. It is a very beautiful Monday afternoon. And I am depressed.

Not got far to look for the reason. I am scared. Scared for myself, and for whatever is going to happen. Maybe I was putting my emotions, my feelings into words here. Projecting my fear onto someone else.

It is such a beautiful day,

And my mind has seized up with fear and apprehension. I can put it in words, the fear. Better maybe than most other people. But talking about it will not ease me much. So, I will try to do something else.

Distract myself, huh!

deT, Down under is famed for its sheep and wool. Have you ever seen a goat? Here is one for you.

I found her seated sedately in the road, near where I live.

Yes, seated, like so.

Goats here run a wild tame life. Poor creatures, almost tame pets, but reared and kept for their meat. I have seen flocks of goats, in the north and east of the country, but here in Kampala, there are almost always solitary, or in small packs. Or they may be lashed on a rope by the roadside.

She is pregnant. That’s why the flanks bulge out so roundly, so nicely. Maybe the reason why she was seated in the middle of the road on a sunny day. Too heavy to move. Maybe, maybe not. Just interesting to think about a possible reason!

Pretty, in a goaty way, I would say. Maybe that is the reason I stopped and started taking photos of her. Notched up my ‘eccentric’ score a few thousands.

Hum. Wanted to name her deT, but I have already named a huge beaked/nosy bird that. How will Princess take this?

Eh Princess, how do you take that, having an anonymous goat named after you?

Before you start throwing plates and mugs at me, remember, I do not know your tribe. You told me that you are not a Muganda, so that is all I know!!!!! Oh, I can guess. So, is it an honour or an insult to have a goat named after you?

Ah, for me, it is just plain funny! ha ha ha!

OK, Princess. Peace offering, so that you don’t go to that island angry with dear nasty evil brother here. Just a reminder of my bad photography. A hazy full moon, photo taken from my back yard, one full moon.

GayUganda

A Scared Young Man

He cannot help be scared. He is. He has to be.

That day of the Implementers Meeting, he was at the meeting place. Hadnt planned to be there. But he was, and such is luck.

We were many, and we all, but one entered the conference hall. Royal Imperial Hotel, in the heart of Kampala. It was the 2008 International HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting. And we were bent on protesting. We, gay Ugandans, had been told that we did not deserve an HIV prevention programme.

So, we were there.

It was a peaceful demonstration. We have some pride in that. Organised to be 5 minutes of fame. And then out of the conference hall. We got out, that is most of us, except 3, who were arrested.

There followed 2 nights in police cells. Sleeping on the hard, cold floor.

They got out, and were greeted as heroes.

They had a court case to answer. And they stood tall and straight in court.

First hearing, flopped.

Second hearing, went ahead.

Third hearing. Did I hear the government angry at the judicial constraints that there are?

That was Friday, the third hearing.

He went there, in a suit, and smart, like he was supposed to be. An official function, and a hero of his community, as we judged it to be.

Afterwards, the day being Friday, and him being a Moslem, he went to Mosque. Left the mosque. Jumped on a boda-boda, a powered motorcycle taxi, the sort that is very popular in Uganda. He left Nakasero Mosque. They stop at traffic lights, and a police patrol vehicle swerves infront of them.

They are pick ups. Blue, a deep blue. The khaki uniformed police on top. It was the day the city was tense because of the problems with the Mengo traditional government.

Through his mind some thoughts. Maybe the boda-boda rider had a traffic violation. That is always likely. They are reckless and unprincipled, except in getting their passenger to the destination.

Or maybe it was because the of the likelihood of the legal-illegal demonstrations.

3 men off the police pick-up. 2 in uniform, 1 not. And they come, not for the driver, but the suprised passenger on the boda boda taxi.

He was bundled into the 999. Roughly.

A criminal, forced onto the floor.

He begged to leave the bodaboda man with his contacts, to tell a few people that he has been arrested. That is how we came to know. Through the boda-boda man, whose passenger had been kidnapped, or arrested, or taken, in broad day light, on a street in Kampala.

We searched the police stations. Decided that he was not there, late in the night.

We were scared.

And we hoped, and prayed.

The next day, he comes back.

A scared man now. No bravado. No shouting about him. Shadows lurking behind those eyes.

So, where was he taken?

His story-

From the police 999 patrol, into an unmarked, tinted car window. A ride through town. And then into a house.

[We call them 'safe houses' in Uganda. Un-official torture chambers. State owned, state operated.
Ask the Danish (or Dutch??) Ambassador to Uganda. One day, he made news. A young man jumped over the fence of his residence. Soon to be followed by pursuing others.

The diplomat was livid. Who dared?...

The young man was tortured. The chasers were the torturers. And, apparently, the house next door was a 'safe house'. The diplomat's residence was not the embassy, so, he could not ask and be given protection. The torturers took the tortured young man, and the frustrated diplomat did what he could. He talked to the Monitor newspaper. And they published the story, and it died a natural death thereafter. No one follows up cases of the government torturing opposition in the name of them being opposition.]

So, our young man was taken to a safe house.

Questioned.

(We talked about it, before. Wondered what would happen if one of us was taken to these torture chambers? Talk, had been the consesus. Talk, we have nothing to hide)

So, he talked, we hope.

And the answers were not enough.

And he was taken into a room, with 4 other young men. With broken bones.

Are there 'truth serums'? Well, the young man has no questions about that. He was asked questions. He talked.

But that was not enough. Some more torture. GWB and Guantanamo has taught a lot of lessons. Torture, without leaving any marks. The aim to make the person spill all the innermost secrets. So, since these were not inner most secrets, and they were just on the surface, they were spilled.

What do they want to know?

Easy. Who are the leaders. Who are the organisers. Who are these homosexuals? Who funds them? Where do they get the money. What does he get, how much? So, if he doesnt get any money, how come he is a homosexual? He must be having lots of money.

Did he talk? No, he sang.

And, life was spared, because there seems to be so little to know, to understand, to feret out.

Would you risk your life hiding who gayuganda is?

A famous one in cyber, maybe, an anonymous laughing, crying face, articulating something of what happens in a tiny central African country, Uganda.

Would you not talk? At the threat of torture?

I am afraid, me, gug, I would quickly reveal that huge secret. Even if it was me.

Later, the next day, he was driven out of the safe house.

He was dropped on the street of Kampala.

Minus his smart suit. Minus his wallet. Minus shoes. Minus his phone.

Only the trouser he was in, and his shirt.

And he was feeling all sore, and sick. He walked to where he knew his friends would be. And I saw him later. A scared young man. A very scared young man.
--

Princess. I know you love your country. You have been most insistent that I reveal myself to you. But even having my phone number can be a risk. No. Sometimes it is better to know that I, gayuganda, a voice in the wilderness of cyber, is a voice in the wilderness of cyber. We can cry, and sing, and dance, and be happy. Doesnt make me forget that we live in a jungle.

If google ever fails me, and blogger is broken apart, and my identity is revealed, well-
what will be will be. We live in a dangerous, unhealthy world. And me, because of my sexuality, a blessing to me, a curse because it seems to be an automatic qualification for some people, because of that I can be dangerous to myself, and to you. The guilt of association.


Oh, I am scared too. As scared as I will ever be.


But, I also have to remember that this poor world of mine is not perfect. And it is my world, and my home. And I have decided to see it as home. It is my home, and well, no other place will be home to me. This is home.


Cry, My Beloved Country.



GayUganda

UGANDAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER -USAAM RELEASED

AUF TESTIMONY – SATURDAY 26TH JULY 2008 12:30


“From court I came to Speke Hotel with Mellisa and Ali for 20 minutes. I found Val &
Gerald and shared a few words with them. Time for Juma prayers was approaching and was
supposed to meet a friend who is getting married after my prayers. I left to attend the
prayers at Nakasero mosque and then I met the lady who gave me money to help her make
her wedding cake. I received a call from Brian at about 2.30 p.m and was coming to Speke
Hotel to meet Brian on a motorbike.


On my way to Speke Hotel I saw a patrol car that was following us which then packed in
front of us. They told the motorbike cyclist that they wanted me and not him since he
had already panicked thinking they were after him. They picked me and I requested to
leave the boda boda man with some contacts so he could let them know that I had been
taken. I gave him Pepe, Frank and Isma’s numbers and told him to help him call those
people.


The patrol car had four policemen, three in uniform and one in plain clothes. I got onto
the pickup truck and they drove towards Jinja road where they found another civilian car
with tinted windscreens packed around Shoprite. They then changed me to that car which
went to direction that I did not note. There were other policemen, 2 in suits and 1 in
uniform. We drove for about 30 minutes and entered a building; they got me out and we
entered somewhere where we found two women and one man.


They then asked me if I was Nikki and I said no. They asked me my name and I told them I
was Usaam Mukwaya. They didn’t identify themselves. They then said they want Nikki or
Pepe. They pushed me into a very dark corridor where I found two other boys. One boy’s
leg was broken and they looked like they had been tortured. One man brought a chair and
told me to sit. They scrapped my knuckle with a razor like object and brought another
glass one that they pressed on the scrapped part where there was blood and I started
getting paralyzed. It started from the hands and then the legs. I was feeling kind of
sleepy but could still understand what was going on around me.
They started asking questions in Luganda (a local language);-
‘Who are the funders and sponsors?’ to which I said I didn’t know them.
‘What is your role among the homosexuals?’ I told them I am an activist and Human Rights
Defender. They then asked me; ‘Who isn’t a Human rights Defender?’ and I kept quiet.
‘Who is Pepe and where does he stays? What is Pepe’s role?’ I told them that Pepe is the
Chairperson of SMUG. The same questions were asked about Nikki and I told them I don’t
know. They asked me where the SMUG office is but I don’t remember what I told them. They
then asked where the lawyer’s office is and where he resides. I directed them to the
office but I told them I didn’t know his home. They asked if I was married and said I am
not. They left me after this and I slept after that. Two women and one man were doing
the questioning, while the other boys were just sitting.


When it was approaching dawn, the man came in and asked me if I was a man or a woman. I
didn’t reply but he asked me to remove my trousers and that’s when he saw my phone. I
had some money too (Fifty thousand shillings) for the lady I had met earlier at the
mosque, which he took. He told me to walk around the room in my underwear. He then told
me to wear my trousers. (Sighs) There was a machine with a cushion bench under it, in
the room where we were and he told me to lie facing it. He told me to look up and
threatened to lower the machine if I did not tell them who the funders are. The machine
is round with long extensions on the sides that stretch the arms. The round part is
directly above the chest and they lowered the machine. The machine is lowered using a
switch. The two extensions on the machine held my hands very tightly and I was in
intense pain. They kept asking me if I would talk or not, I said nothing. After about 15
minutes, another man came in and said that it’s possible that I am innocent because the
young people are just recruited. The machine was then removed and they asked me if we
are paid and how much is it that we are paid. I told them that I am not paid. They then
asked me why I am a homosexual if I am not paid. I did not answer. They left me sleeping
on the bench under the machine.


After about 40 min the one that lowered the machine came back and called me. They took
me where the car that had brought us the previous day was parked and asked me to get in.
My mobile phone, money, jacket, shoes and socks were not returned to me. There were two
men, the same person who was driving the day before and someone else I had not seen
before drove me up Mulago round-about and ordered me to get out. There is a phone booth
across the road; I walked up to it thinking I could remember Pepe’s number but only the
last two digits could come to mind. I then picked a motorbike to Speke Hotel, but the
motorcyclist was hesitant to take because I was dirty and barefooted. When I reached
Speke Hotel, I looked around for my colleagues but there was none there, so the
telephone operator across Speke paid the motorcyclist. I entered the hotel at about 12pm
and asked the Manager to call someone; he called Gerald the Office Administrator of
SMUG, who then called Pepe.


I feel pain in my chest, I also have a stomach upset but I am happy to see light again.”


This testimony was witnessed by:

---


For further information please contact:
Pepe Julian Onziema
Email:jpepe@sexualminoritiesuganda.org


Brian
Tel: +256-712-428-906

UGANDAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FEARED ARRESTED

Time: 03:15 (25 July 2008)

Usaam Auf Mukwaya, one of the three LGBTI Human Right Defenders who were arrested at the

HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting last month has gone missing. By 21:39 this evening, his

whereabouts where still unknown.

Pepe Julian Onziema, another of the three LGBTI Human Rights Defenders currently facing

court charges for Criminal trespass received a phone call at 3:15pm from a motorcyclist

who identified himself as Amis. Amis who was riding Auf, reports that they were ambushed

by three men in a police patrol vehicle in Nakasero along Entebbe road on his way from

saying prayers at a mosque and swiftly driven away. Auf was on his way back to Speke

Hotel where the rest of SMUG Human Rights Defenders and friends had gathered after the

court hearing of the three Human Rights Defenders.

“We were riding from Nakasero when a police patrol vehicle suddenly interrupted our way.

We had approached Entebbe road junction and stopped waiting for cars to pass. As we were

waiting, the police patrol parked in front of us and 3 policemen, two in uniform and one

in plain clothes came and asked Auf to get on the patrol car. He asked for a pen from

the policeman in plain clothes in order to write down some contacts. They allowed him to

do so and he gave me the piece of paper and told me to call the contacts and inform

them. There was no violence portrayed at the moment of the arrest”, reports the

motorcyclist.

A few available colleagues from SMUG have moved around five police stations around

Kampala namely; Central police station, Kiira road, Old Kampala, Nakasero and Jinja road

and Auf has not been found at any of those stations.

SMUG is still working around time to find where he has been detained. We will keep you

updated on new developments.

This report has been prepared and verified by:

- Pepe Julian Onziema- Co-Chairperson, SMUG

- Victor Mukasa, IGLHRC Official

- Val Kalende, SMUG

- Brian – SMUG

- Aliyah- FARUG

For further information please contact:

Pepe Julian Onziema

Tel: +256-772-370-674

Email:jpepe@sexualminoritiesuganda.org

Brian

Tel: +256-712-428-906

Court Report as 0f 25th –July -2007

Today at Buganda road court, The prosecution desk produced a new prosecutor who was asking the judge to be given more time to study the case file and get acquitted to the case before they could proceed. The presiding Magistrate refused citing reason that the file has been in the prosecution office for enough time for the prosecutor to have looked through and so she (magistrate) ordered him to proceed with cross examining the present witness.

The prosecution produced their 2nd witness in this case by the names of sergeant Malenge Kamya aged 49yrs attached to the central police station Kampala

When asked if he knew the matter before court, the witness sergeant Malenge admitted that he knew it, how he knew about the case? He was the "In charge" at the Police post that was set at Grand Imperial hotel during the HIV/AIDS implementers meeting

The witness said that when he got a call that there were 3 people disrupting the conference, he sent his CIDs to investigate and they came back with the three Val, Auf & Pepe and that's when he realized that these people were carrying placards which were written on the following statements "gays are also Ugandans" and "No single fee has been allocated to gays…."

The witness was asked if he knew the defendants before court and he admitted that he knew them when asked to Identify them by their names and he went on to do so, Pointing at Pepe and calling him/er Valentine Kalende and vice verser.

The Defence counsel asked the witness who the complainant in this case was and the witness answered that it was him and the state.

When asked if he knew the organizers of the conference he admitted that he knew them, when asked if he took statements from the organizers of the conference the sergeant said he had no authority to do so he just handed the accused to the O.C CID who took them to the central police station.

The Defence attorney informed the witness that one of the representatives of UNAIDS recorded a statement with the police, when asked if he knew about that statement he denied.

The counsel produced two documents one from UNAIDS headquarters and one from the United states Embassy and in particular from the ambassador of the united states of America which the sergeant denied that he didn't know of them at all that that was the first time he was seeing them. These documents verified the invitations awarded to the defendants to attend the conference.

The defence attorney closed by putting it to the state witness that the state and the police were just hosts of the conference and not the organizers so they were just torturing these young activists. (The accused)

The presiding magistrate asked the state witness the following questions for clarification.

* Do you consider yourself a complainant in this case? Witness answered yes.

* How many levels of security did you have at the Hotel for that day? Witness answered. 1 at the hotel entrance and 1 at the conference hall entrance.

* How come these beat the security levels? Witness answered that he didn't know how they beat the security in fact that's what annoyed him so much as the in charge of security at the hotel for the conference.

The prosecution asked the magistrate to adjourn the next hearing to the 20th –Sept – 2008 because they have a a lot of cases in between there, which the magistrate refused.

The case was adjourned to the 1st of August 2008 at 9:00am.

Today in court

Update: Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders court hearing adjourned to Friday, 25th.07.2008

Date: 9th July, 2008

The three Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders that were arrested and detained on the 4th of June 2008 and charged with criminal trespass, appeared in court today Wednesday the 9th of July 2008 at 9:30 am, at the Buganda Road Magistrate’s court in Kampala – Uganda.

The Public prosecutor brought to court the same state witness who was in court yesterday detective constable Opor. Nicholas. This witness showed court four placards, which was contradicting what he told court yesterday that the placards were only two. However the four placards in court read: “Zero shillings for gays for HIV prevention in Uganda”, “Gay Ugandans also need HIV prevention care”, “Health is a fundamental Human Right, gay Ugandans inclusive.”, “Gay Ugandans are also Ugandans” .

The defense lawyer for the three LGBTI human rights defenders inquired from the state witness what was annoying about the placards, which prompted him to arrest and charge his clients with an offense of criminal trespass. In his response he said nothing was annoying about the placards, but the three accused were interrupting the HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting.

The lawyer asked the state witness to tell court who had convened the meeting. The state witness informed court that it was the Americans. He was further asked by the defense lawyer, to tell court who is accusing the three

activists for trespass. He replied, ‘The State’. The defense lawyer told court that his clients where duly invited for the conference and he showed court, registration forms for HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting 3rd – 7th June 2008 for the three activists, and a letter accompanying the registration forms signed by the Ambassador U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and a support letter signed by all the conference organizers. The Defense lawyer said

the State can not file a charge against his clients, if the organizers of the conference registered and invited the three activists to attend the conference.

The Public Prosecutor asked court to adjourn the hearing. This she said will give them time to bring more state witnesses to court. The Defense lawyer had no objection to the adjournment. Court was adjourned to Friday July 25, 2008

Some Rants

Worth a rant surely?

Bishop threatens to quit church on gay marriages - - News

By Anderson Ojwang’ And Jessicah Nyaboke

An Anglican bishop has threatened to quit the church over gay marriages.

The Reverend Thomas Kogo, a bishop at the Eldoret ACK Diocese, has issued the quit notice, saying he could not support a church that condones homosexuality.

Kogo, who has just returned from a pilgrimage in Israel, said the faithful must uphold the sanctity of the Anglican family.

Bishop Thomas Kogo of the Anglican Church of Kenya addresses journalists at the Eldoret Cathedral Church, on Wednesday.

He said those advocating for gay marriages were driven by desire for money and wealth.

"God recognises marriage between man and woman, and there is no way we will accept homosexuality and gay marriages. The Bible is very clear on the matter," he said.

The bishop said during the pilgrimage by more than 1,200 pilgrims worldwide, those in attendance resolved to reject gay marriages and promised to fight for the unity of the Anglican community.

-----------

I had forgotten. We were in court today.

Update: Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders court hearing adjourned to 9th.07.2008

Date: 8th July, 2008

The three Ugandan LGBT/HIV human rights defenders that were arrested and detained on the 4th of June 2008 and charged with criminal trespass,

appeared in court today Tuesday the 8th of July 2008 at 9:30 am, at the Buganda Road Magistrate’s court in Kampala – Uganda.

The state provided a witness, one Police officer, detective constable P. Nicholas attached to Central Police Station. This state witness told court that he arrested the 3 LGBT HIV/AIDS activists at the implementers

meeting on 4th of June 2008 at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala and handed them to 999 Police, who later delivered them to Jinja Road Police station. He said he arrested the three because they did not have

official invitation cards admitting them to the conference. He further told court that the 3 activists had placards that were written on: “gays are also Ugandans” and the other reading, “Since 1983 to 2008 no shilling for gays”.

The witness also told court that he later found out, that the three activists had been invited and given special invitation cards by the US Ambassador and the organizers, who insisted that the activists should attend the meeting.

However he strongly emphasized that even when the activists reappeared at the conference, they were not allowed to attend the main conference on the directives of the Director of AIDS Commission Dr, kihumuro Apuuli

He further said, that the ambassador got the trio a special room where they had meetings with some committees .The defense lawyer for the three LGBTI activists crossed examined the state witness and in his cross examination, he put to the witness that the state had used him to harass his clients. Case has been adjourned to tomorrow Wednesday 9th, July, 2008 at 9:00am at Buganda Road Magistrate court when the placards showing the activists’ messages urging government to include LGBTI people in National HIV&AIDS intervention programming will be presented as exhibits.

So, we will be back tomorrow. What will happen? I don’t know

-------------------------------------------------------

And some light moments.

I received an sms from a kuchu friend who was pissed off. Very pissed off. Here is the text;

I’m sending you a message of a guy with whom I had almost the best sex of my life. I thought that maybe he could be one who I can stay with for longer.

and the offending text followed-

Pliz never call me again or have anything to do with me. We are finished 4ever. GOD IS GOD AND WILL NEVER CHANGE. HE HAS DELIVERED ME FROM THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. PLIZ LEAVE MY LIFE 4 EVA. JESUS (GAVE) ME A NEW LIVE. In God we trust.

Sorry, I commiserated, and my friend exploded…

Sorry? That’s all? I HATE RELIGION! Do you see how it destroys people’s minds?

----

Well, we had to take the conversation off the phone. He was too angry, and I just could not comfort him. Well, we know the risks, and in the kind of atmosphere of hate we live in, it is very, very tough to accept what one is. The guy has turned the best sex he had into a loathsome experience. Sigh, the alchemy of the mind!!!!

But of course Kimbowa will disagree…

Enough of rants. Be well.

GayUganda

A Court Appearance

We were in court today. And something funny happens.

There are two prosecution witnesses. And before the judge, they just did not appear. Even though they are members of the uniformed service, the police. They were unavailable. Absent from duty, if it is to be believed.

So, the judge gave us a date in future. July the 8th. With a threat, case maybe dismissed, otherwise.

My prayer is that, that happens.

At least, for now, we would have had the anti-climax to our not so voluntary adventure. One year in prison, that’s the possible sentence. But a week in our prisons, every second of it is too long. They should not suffer it.


GayUganda

I am so Proud of My Boyfriend

UGANDA: Ray: "The government is only looking after straight people"

KAMPALA, 17 June 2008 (PlusNews) - The arrest of three people protesting the lack of HIV/AIDS programming for men who have sex with men at the recent HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting in Kampala, capital of Uganda, has drawn criticism from HIV activists around the world. IRIN/PlusNews spoke to one activist about growing up gay and the need for HIV prevention messages targeting the gay community.

"I was born into a Christian family living in the village. I really knew myself that I was gay when I was very young - four or five years old.

"I used to think that maybe I had a problem - I was supposed to be attracted to ladies, but I was attracted to men. I shared this with my older brother, and he told me that one day I would be attracted to ladies.

"After school I came to Kampala to look for a job, and while I was working and growing up the issue [of being attracted to men] was going on. One time I happened to meet someone in town who was also like me. We talked, we talked; I understood that I was not alone. I knew I was gay, but being gay in Uganda, it is not easy. It has to be quiet - we are hiding.

"We wanted to do something about HIV. Many LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people] are suffering from HIV. Some are sick, some have died. Government doesn't see us as people who should be looked after, so we wanted to make a campaign.

"Two or three days before the [HIV Implementers'] conference started, we said, 'We need to organise ourselves' [to advocate prevention]. We need HIV prevention like any Ugandan.

"My boyfriend was there and he demonstrated. I was so, so worried about it, [but] he said, 'If we keep quiet no one will talk on our behalf'.

"Three [demonstrators] were caught and taken to the police. They spent two nights in jail, which was not easy because they were being abused. One person is transgender, so people were asking: 'Are you a man or a woman?', and people even touched there [the genital area] to see. Then the second day they were released on court bond.

"We need services and programmes. In counselling and testing, the counsellors say, 'Have sex with a condom', but we need a lubricant also. We can't talk and say, 'I have sex with a man', so they can't give enough information about how gay men should protect themselves from HIV.

"On [the packet of] condoms, it's a man and a woman; on signposts, it's a man and a woman. Some people are not educated - they see a man and a woman so they think if you are gay and having sex with a man then you cannot get HIV.

"Homosexuals don't know that you need a certain [water-based] lubricant. People were using Blue Band [a brand of margarine], or Vaseline [a brand of petroleum jelly], and afterwards we learn that this destroys the condom. The [water-based] lubricant they have here is KY and it's very expensive; that's why people were resorting to Blue Band.

"The government is only looking after straight people, but some gay people are married and have women, then they sleep with men. If you don't treat [a gay man] but you treat his wife, then you aren't doing work preventing HIV."

More Madness from Ssempa??

Ugandan Aids Actors threatens to drag UNAIDS in court

Ugandan Religious clergies have threaten to drag UNAIDS into courts of laws if they do not openly apologise for the recent saga that involved homosexuals( Pro gay activists) during the implementers meeting on HIV/AIDS in kampala.The suspects where held by the police and detained for their wrongful demonstration promoting the illegal activity in the country. A senior HIV/AIDS expert from UNAIDS by the names of Dr. Michel Sibide the deputy executive director of UNAIDS advocated for the release of these suspects which annoyed the Faith based organisation officials and other church leaders. ''That activity was void and illegal'' said Pastor Ssempa. “In fact we need a formal apology from Dr. Sibide and his group for their continued support towards immoral activities. Uganda is a holy nation and it must be preserved by the business of supporting activites that degeneralise our nation MUST stop.” Reverend Kamya Paul of Namirembe Christian Fellowship. The suspects who where arrested included Pepe Juliana Onzema,Usaam Mukwaya and Valantini Katende. Under normal circumstances these people had to face life imprisonment under the ''unnatural offences'' in section 140 of penal code. Reverend Canon Gideon Byamugisha an aids activist also condemned UNAIDS for their continued support of activities that does not help the country instead of suppporting programmes of positive changes.

Uhm!

Though I must say Canon Gideon's words are being taken out of contest, and the meaning changed. Or reversed, I must say.

Was Ssempa taken out of contest too? But it sounds suspiciously like something that he would say. And he claims to have an MPH and to be an AIDS activist!

gug

Uganda: Drop Charges Against Sexual Rights Activists

Human Rights Watch
PRESS RELEASE

Posted to the web 12 June 2008


The arrest of three sexual rights activists during a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues shows the Ugandan government's determination to enforce silence around sexuality and HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General Edward Kiddu Makubuya.

Although the activists were released on June 6, Human Rights Watch urged the government to drop all charges against the three and to stop future arrests and prosecution of activists working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.


On June 3, 2008, police in Kampala detained Onziema Patience, Valentine Kalende, and Usaam Mukwaaya while demonstrating during the HIV/AIDS Implementers Meeting-a conference aimed at sharing lessons learned and best practices for HIV/AIDS programs. The three activists were protesting remarks made the day before by the chair of the Uganda AIDS Commission, Kihumuro Apuuli. He had declared that "gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda," and that the government could not afford direct prevention and care.

"Silence around HIV/AIDS kills," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "LGBT people do not 'drive' HIV in Uganda, but they have driven many community-based responses. They deserve recognition and inclusion, not repression and jail."

The three activists face charges of "criminal trespass" under article 302 of the Uganda Criminal Code. Even though cosponsors of the Implementers Meeting later provided the activists with appropriate accreditation, the police detained one of the activists for over four hours and charged him with "forgery of documents." All three face a court hearing on June 20, 2008.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly drawn Ugandan authorities' attention to patterns of abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity. On August 22, 2007, Human Rights Watch wrote to president Museveni concerning threatening statements made by government officials against LGBT people in Uganda. In an October 11, 2007 letter, Human Rights Watch expressed alarm over authorities' call to tighten enforcement of the country's draconian sodomy law, which punishes homosexual conduct with up to life imprisonment.

"When police silence voices defending public health, the only winner is the virus," said Cano Nieto. "Uganda's once-praised HIV prevention efforts are giving way to prejudice and fear."

------

Uh.

Bet Kimbowa is going to rail against this one. As will Ssempa. Why?

HRW is an international NGO that tends to police the world, and takes up the cases of human right abuses. It has a section dedicated to Health/HIV Rights, and also to LGBTI rights.

Ssempa fell foul of HRW. Don’t know when he started railing against it. But they are not friends. Last year, he literally accused HRW of being a homosexual organization, pushing homosexual rights, and imposing them onto poor Ugandans who did not want them.
Err, this year, Kimbowa comes up with the same arguments. And he apparently didn’t know that HRW is not a ‘homosexual’ organization. Well, if you listen to only Ssempa, you may be so mistaken.

I know, 27th believes HRW is a neocolonialist organization. He has this conspiracy theory that it is working in the interests of the American Govt. When I pointed out that HRW doesn’t like Guantanamo, I was brushed aside. Well, he is a Communist, so he is allowed the usual biases!

Me? I like HRW. Especially when point out when our lovely governments arrest and detain and imprison us in the name of patriotism.

Few things make me feel patriotic. The result of a lot of thought. I am a Ugandan. An African. It is unfair to be asked to be more patriotic and clannish than other Ugandans and Africans by rejecting what I am, in the name of what others find ok. And too many people use what divides us for their own political and other ambitions.

I have expanded that logic a bit.

It is a big world, a whole world, is Earth. The line drawn on a map to separate me from WildeY is just that. A line, on a map. Yes, an ocean separates me from WhozHe, but our skins have the same tone of melanin. It may differ from WildeY’s, but we are still the same specie. DeT too. We are Human beings.

I am a citizen of Earth. The whole world.

Am I rejecting Uganda, Africa?

No, why should I?

I am just a citizen of the whole wide world.



GayUganda

Return to Normal

The excitement of the last week is gone down.

Feels funny, without what seemed to be a regular infusion of adrenaline. But it wore me out, the worry, and the uncertainty, and the need to be alert.

But it is gone, and we are fine. At least we hope we are fine.

A rumour.

We have been declared an embarrassment to the country. A security risk.

Just one of those rumours which are persistent. So unbelievably embarrassing that it makes me laugh!

Oh well.

Meanwhile, I can concentrate on my domestics. Seems as if I have spent too much time occupied elsewhere. Need to work on work, and the money in the bank, and etc. Nice mundane jobs, day to day occupations. A little suprising that the world is still turning, at the usual pace.

Poems. Yes, to read some more poetry. Write a bit. Immerse myself in it again. It’s a pleasure that I have missed.

Police harassment has to have a ‘legal’ basis.[ So, whereas the opposition politicians, for holding an ‘illegal’ rally, after the Constitutional court strikes down that law as unconstitutional can be arrested for ‘threatening violence’ the state has the whole penal code to choose from], the guy, one of the three who was arrested Saturday on charge of forging the Conference card, the charge disappeared into thin air. So, still hanging over our heads are those of ‘criminal trespass’, and a one year prison term. Prison in Uganda is not a good thing. And the guys and gal are still vulnerable, not yet over the ordeal, despite the brave faces.

How can we use the apparent opportunity? Depends on what change of mind the government has had. And incredibly, Ssempa has not demonstrated again. Nor have we heard from Nsaba Buturo. Though last night on WBS there was this program about the schism in the Anglican Communion. The laity doesn’t seem all that excited. But the clergy is, certainly.

GayUganda