Op-ed: Demonizing David Kato to Further Antigay Sentiment
The story advanced by the prosecutor at sentencing feeds into the lie
that Ugandans — and in particular their children — are in grave danger
unless homosexuality is criminalized.
By Melanie Nathan, op-ed contributor
DavidKatox390 (Screengrab) | Advocate.com
David Kato
Justice Joseph Mulangira of Uganda's Mukono High Court has sentenced
Sidney Nsubuga Enoch, 22, the man they say confessed to the murder of
gay rights activist David Kato, to 30 years in prison.
Kato was a local and international gay rights activist. His face
appeared as one of the hundred 'outed' gay men by Uganda's Rolling
Stone tabloid along with the headline "100 Pictures of Uganda's top
Homos." Against all odds, Kato won his case in the Uganda courts,
against the paper's publishers, where his face appeared next to a
headline, "Hang Them!" Months later, after declaring that he feared
for his life, Kato was brutally murdered in his home.
The Ugandan authorities arrested and convicted Nsubuga, but his story
makes no sense.
I see reason to believe the killer murdered Kato for being gay. But
rather than pursue a real motive, the prosecutor chose to believe the
story of a confessed killer who probably thought he would receive
leniency — and possibly become a hero — if he inserted into his story
that Kato had made a demand for homosexual sex.
The story advanced by the prosecutor at sentencing has done little
more than perpetuate the myth that gays are trying to recruit straight
people into homosexuality. It feeds into the lie that Ugandans — and
in particular their children — are in grave danger unless
homosexuality is criminalized.
Whether one considers the sentence of 30 years light or not, the
bottom line is that a great hero, who may well have been murdered for
his cause, has not only yet to see justice, but has also had his
memory tarnished.
While the police issued a statement saying that Kato's killing was in
no way related to his campaign for gay rights, many of us believe this
entire story to be a cover up of the actual facts and events that led
to his brutal murder.
What is of greatest concern to me is that the Ugandan government has
failed to render a version of the events that makes any sense. On the
one hand, given the context of antigay fervor in Uganda, the story
implies that Kato's homosexuality had something to do with his death,
yet it refuses to consider that maybe it had nothing to do with sex
and everything to do with a vendetta against Kato for his activism.
This version is nothing more than an attempt to slander a dead hero
and detract from the truth about the murder.
The language used and description inserts a so-called "demand for sex"
as a concomitant leading to the murderer's actions. Clearly the
murderer could have left the scene, and he did not.
My dear friend and brother David Kato will not be forgotten. David and
I were in regular communication for at least a year, as a source, a
fellow activist and a friend. If anyone knew David, he was not a man
who would have demanded sex from anyone.
Nothing will stop us from remembering the real David Kato, the fervent
activist who fought with courage while knowing his life was at great
risk. David Kato died for his cause.
MELANIE NATHAN is a lawyer and human rights activist who is author of
the GAY U.S.A. the Blog, which is run in conjunction with GAY U.S.A.
the Movie.
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