A Ugandan newspaper is outing gays and lesbians because it considers that ”African culture does not condone this sort of thing”, Arinaitwe Rugando, a senior editor at the paper, told the Mail & Guardian.
Over the past two months, Red Pepper has published the first names of 45 gay men and 13 lesbians. Last week it ran the headline ”Kampala’s notorious lesbians unearthed” and called on readers to come forward with the names of gays and lesbians in order to ”rid our motherland of the deadly vice” of lesbianism.
Chris Kalema, spokesperson for the Makerere University Students Lesbian Association, said that as a result of their names being published, some people have had to move from their homes, while others have ”received strange calls”.
The United Kingdom-based gay and lesbian rights organisation Outrage! said at least five gay men were arrested after the publication of their name and profession in Red Pepper.
Human Rights Watch has also expressed concern: ”In a country where a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of life imprisonment … [the decision] to publish names of alleged homosexuals is a chilling development that could presage a government crackdown.”
Rugando played down the matter and compared the publication of the list of lesbians and gays to an earlier list of those who cheat on their spouses: ”Cheating is bad. It is part of our social corporate responsibility to expose these things.”
He said in the list it had published it did not publish the full names but would consider doing so in the future. ”We didn’t completely publish the full list to tell them to watch out. We are after you.”