National
Funeral of Ugandan gay leader marred by hostile priest
Murder prompts appeal to black, LGBT rights groups in U.S.


David Kato’s photo appeared on the cover of a Ugandan newspaper with a banner reading ‘hang them.’ He was later murdered.
American LGBT activists have joined a Ugandan gay leader in appealing to gay and mainline black civil rights organizations in the United States to take a vocal stand against conditions in Uganda that they say led to the Jan. 26 murder of a prominent gay advocate in his home near Kampala.
The activists spoke during a Jan. 28 telephone news conference in New York on the same day that an Anglican priest stunned friends and family members of slain Ugandan gay advocate David Kato by shouting at Kato’s burial service that homosexuality is “evil.”
According to a BBC News report, the priest, Thomas Musoke, declared before hundreds of people, “You must repent. Even animals know the difference between a male and a female.”
Reuters News Service reported that a scuffle broke out between Kato’s friends and nearby residents, who supported the priest’s remarks, prompting funeral workers to refuse to bury Kato’s coffin. Friends and family members completed the burial, Reuters reported.
Rev. Joseph Tolton, pastor of the Harlem-based Rehoboth Temple Christ Conscious Church in New York and an organizer of the Jan. 28 news conference, said a coalition of mostly African-American LGBT organizations and faith-based groups are encouraging U.S. civil rights and religious leaders to speak out more forcefully on anti-gay bias in Uganda.
“It’s an appeal to the mainline black civil rights organizations that we’ve had really good conversations with,” he said. “It’s an appeal to black industry. It’s an appeal to the LGBT African-American community and then an appeal to the boarder black community. And it’s definitely an appeal to the black faith community as well.”
Tolton was joined at the news conference by Frank Mugisha, chair of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the group for which Kato served as outreach advocate and deputy director.
Mugisha arrived in the U.S. last month to work with Tolton and other U.S. LGBT advocates to draw attention to the hostile conditions in Uganda for LGBT people and to build opposition to a pending bill in the Uganda Parliament calling for increased legal restrictions against homosexuality, including a possible death penalty for certain sexual acts.
Kato was found bludgeoned to death inside his home in a village about 20 miles outside Kampala on Jan. 26.
The murder came less than a year after Kato sued a Ugandan newspaper for publishing his photo, name and address – along with photos and identifying information of other known gays – under a headline that said, “Hang them.”
Ugandan police have said a preliminary investigation indicates Kato was killed during a robbery and that the incident was not related to his sexual orientation. Authorities said late last week that they arrested one suspect in the case and were looking for a second suspect that they said had been living in Kato’s house.
Members of SMUG expressed skepticism over the police reports. Activists with the group say they believe Kato was targeted because of his role as a gay leader at a time when politicians and many news media outlets in Uganda were waging a vocal campaign condemning homosexuality.
His murder also took place as the country debates whether its parliament should pass a proposed law calling for tightening existing restrictions against homosexuality, with a possible death penalty for people engaging in homosexual acts. Human Rights advocates have dubbed the legislation the “kill the gays” bill.
President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton issued statements expressing sadness over Kato’s death and called on Uganda to thoroughly investigate the murder and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate,” Obama said in a Jan. 27 statement. “He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work.”
Clinton, in a statement released the same day as the president’s statement, called on Ugandan authorities to “quickly and thoroughly investigate and prosecute those responsible for this heinous act.”
Clinton noted that Kato played a leading role prompting Uganda’s Human Rights Commission to release a statement saying the proposed legislation against homosexuality violated the country’s constitution. She noted that Kato won his court case in a Jan. 2 ruling by Uganda’s highest court holding that newspapers could not violate privacy rights of gay people by publishing personal information about them.
“His tragic death underscores how critical it is that both the government and the people of Uganda, along with the international community, speak out against discrimination, harassment, and intimidation of Uganda’s LGBT community,” Clinton said.
Other groups participating in the news conference and making appeals for U.S. support for LGBT Ugandans were Global Justice Institute, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); GLO TV Network; BGM Network; GBM News; Metropolitan Community Church of New York; GayByGod.net; Rehoboth Temple; and The Fellowship.
Tolton called on LGBT advocates and their supporters in the U.S. to contact their representatives in Congress to alert them to the pending anti-gay legislation in Uganda and urge them to speak out against it.
He also called on U.S. advocates to consider providing financial support to SMUG, whose leaders he said are risking their own lives in their fight for justice for LGBT people in Uganda.
Tolton said online contributions can be made through www.GayByGod.net, an LGBT supportive faith-based website.
A press release posted on the website of the Embassy of Uganda in Washington, D.C. says Ugandan authorities believe “aggravated robbery” was the motive behind David Kato’s murder.
The press release says police are “actively searching” for the suspect still at large, who they describe as the “main suspect” and someone who was “formerly residing with and in the employment of Mr. Kato.”
“There are no indications that Mr. Kato’s campaign against the anti-homosexuality bill which was before Parliament of Uganda, or any other actions as a gay activist, were contributing factors in his death,” the release says. “The Uganda police [are] committed to thoroughly investigating this incident, as well as any other murder, and shall bring the perpetrators to justice.”
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
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