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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 7th, 2014
John Abdallah Wambere, who goes by the nickname “Long Jones,” filed for asylum in the U.S. yesterday, saying that if he were to return to Uganda, he would face persecution and potential prosecution under the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act which President Yoweri Museveni signed into law in February. He is a longtime gay activist who cof-founded Spectrum Uganda fourteen years ago. He appeared at a press conference in Boston with attorneys from Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) to discuss his decision:
“This has been a very, very difficult decision for me,” said Wambere in a statement to the media. “I have devoted my life to working for LGBTI people in Uganda, and it gives me great pain not to be with my community, allies, and friends while they are under increasing attack. But in my heart, I know it is my only option, and that I would be of no use to my community in jail.”
Inside spread of Red Pepper, dated Saturday, March 1. Wambere’s photo appeared at top left. (Click to enlarge.)
Just a week after the Anti-Homosexuality Act was signed into law, the Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper launched yet another anti-gay vigilante campaign. Wambere’s photo appeared in the tabloid’s March 1 edition under a headline touting “Ugandan Homos Cabinet List Leaks.” GLAD explains what has happened to him since February:
As a co-founder of the LGBTI rights group Spectrum Uganda Initiatives, John knew he was in danger. His photo and name had been plastered on the front page of Ugandan newspapers, outing him as gay under headlines like “Men of Shame Exposed”. Clients had been fleeing his travel agency till his business dropped off to nothing. He had been questioned by relatives and shunned by neighbors. He endured the murder of his friend David Kato. He had been evicted, repeatedly arrested, harassed on the street by strangers, and received threatening anonymous phone calls.
Wambere appeared in the documentary Call Me Kuchu, which portrays the hardships experienced by LGBT Ugandans, including the brutal murder of LGBT activist David Kato in January 2011. He also appeared in the 2010 Current TV documentary Missionaries of Hate.
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Leonardo Ricardo
May 7th, 2014
ATTN: Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, TAKE NOTE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN UGANDA as you posture and reposture fore/against the very human rights of LGBTI Anglicans in the United Kingdom and abroad! SPEAK UP! The Anglican Church of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley (following the hateful Henry Orombi) endorsed the anti-Gay legislation that President Museveni signed! Anglican and MP David Bahati was the creator of this same legislation that first included the KILL THE GAYS clause! (for those who don’t know, Justin Welby, ABC, is from the evo-rightside of the Church of England. Not that it matters as there are cowards at all levels of Churchlife who make lives HELL for LGBT Anglicans in Africa, the Middle East and beyond! Leonardo/Len Guatemala
SharonB
May 8th, 2014
And this is what those AmTaliban religious @ssholes want to make your lives like in the USA.
I really hope Lively and his accomplices are held accountable – this is a human rights disaster of the first order.
I don’t want to Godwin the thread, but how is this different than Germany in the 30s?
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