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Gay News: In a landmark decision the Ugandan High Court has banned all media outlets from outing people as gay
By: Nigel Robinson
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda
Uganda High Court bans outing
4 January 2011
The ruling comes three months after Rolling Stone – not the American magazine – published lists of Ugandans who were gay, and urged its readers to hang them.
In making the ruling the Judge Musoke-Kibuke said: “Clearly the call to hang gays in dozens tends to tremendously threaten their right to human dignity.”
Rolling Stone editor, Giles Muhane, who claimed that he had been doing his duty in exposing evil in society, said that he was surprised by the judgment, and that it would set a dangerous precedent which would promote homosexuality.
The ruling is seen as particularly significant as it applies not just to Rolling Stone magazine but to all Ugandan media.
Pepe Julian Onziema, one of the three gay rights activists who had brought the case to court told the BBC that the ruling set a precedent not just in Uganda but in the whole of Africa.
“A lot of the danger that we have been facing here has been the result of the local media,” she said. “[The ruling] has basically set a standard for the media to begin treating us as humans, as part of the community...
“We’d had enough because we were in lots of danger already. Then Rolling Stone went a notch higher by calling for the hanging of gay people. We had to put a stop to it.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. Anyone found guilty of homosexual acts is liable for a life sentence.
