LGBT Activist Murdered in Uganda, Demands Action

The brutal murder of Ugandan human rights leader David Kato has left the LGBT community in Uganda in shock, mourning and afraid. Kato was severely beaten to death in his home with a hammer, his body discovered in his Kampala apartment yesterday afternoon.

This murder comes against the backdrop of profoundly anti-gay rhetoric across Uganda, spurred by the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which sought to introduce the death penalty for certain same-sex consensual acts. In December, Human Rights First’s Paul LeGendre debated David Bahati, the Ugandan parliamentarian who introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.