NAACP Denounces Anti-Gay Action in Uganda. WATCH the Press Conference

The NAACP came out against the mess besetting Uganda. Trans African Forum and the National Black Justice Coalition joined forces to tell Congress to stop all anti-gay legislation in Uganda.

Washington Blade has the story:

In a news conference on Capitol Hill, officials with Trans Africa Forum, the NAACP, the National Black Justice Coalition and black church leaders said a growing number of mainline U.S. civil rights groups were beginning to speak out against anti-LGBT persecution in Uganda.

The civil rights group leaders and Frank Mugisha, an official with Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), who also spoke at the news conference, said they were especially troubled that an atmosphere of hostility toward LGBT people in Uganda appears to have been “imported” by U.S. fundamentalist Christian organizations.

“Trans Africa is very concerned about the situation in Uganda and all over the continent of Africa, where we see homophobia on the rise,” said Nicole Lee, president of Trans Africa Forum. “And one of the ironic concerns, frankly, is that this homophobia is not home grown,” she said.

“We have found that this homophobia is imported from the United States and Europe. And we really want to make clear that black civil society organizations here in the United States will not stand for this.”

Lee and the other U.S. civil rights leaders participating in the news conference said they were prompted to take a more vocal stand on LGBT-related developments in Uganda following the Jan. 26 murder of Ugandan LGBT rights leader David Kato, who was found bludgeoned to death in his home near the capital city of Kampala.

Hilary Shelton the NAACP’s executive vice president said that the anti-gay actions in Uganda is like the lynchings and “Jim Crow” policies of segregation and discrimination faced over 50 years ago.
This is a great step in the right direction. Nice to see NAACP tackle more international issues too.

Here is the press conference

Capitol Hill Press Conference The Violence Against Sexual Minorities in Uganda from LIPTV 1 on Vimeo.