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Ugandan 'gay' name list
condemned
 08
Sept 2006- A Ugandan newspaper's decision to publish the names of
alleged homosexual men is a "chilling development", New York-based Human
Rights Watch says.
Last month the
Red Pepper paper printed 45 first names and professions or areas of work
of alleged homosexual men.
HRW says the
move could foreshadow a government crackdown in the country, where
homosexuality is illegal.
But an editor at
the paper told the BBC that it was not a witchhunt and that no man on
the list was identifiable.
'Tolerant'
"It's one of the
interesting things for people to read in a tabloid because in African
societies homosexuality is still seen as strange," a Red Pepper editor,
who asked not to be named, told the BBC News website.
"We've also
printed a list of cheats - people unfaithful to their partners - also
with first names etc, because people like reading about other people's
vices," the editor said.
"We don't want
to expose them (homosexuals) to the government and the police has never
contacted us to investigate the list. This country is very very
tolerant."
But HRW says the
gay and lesbian community in Uganda has long been stigmatised and
harassed by the government.
"For years,
President Yoweri Museveni's government routinely threatens and vilifies
lesbians and gays, and subjects sexual rights activists to harassment,"
said HRW's Jessica Stern.
"At a moment
when sensational publicity has spread fear among a whole community, the
authorities must exercise their responsibility to protect, not
persecute."
The editor
dismissed these fears: "People are not going to attack you or arrest you
- I don't remember anybody being prosecuted in courts of law because
someone's gay or lesbian."
However, he
admitted that people were paranoid about having their names printed in
the paper.
"People are
calling here (the paper) to make sure they're names are not named;
others are calling and cursing us."
He said the
paper was considering publishing the names of lesbians, but a decision
had not yet been taken.
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