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.”
Federal Government
RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth
‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD
A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.
The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.
The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”
Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.
“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”
Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.
“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”
“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.”
Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.
“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”
The White House
Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador
Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.
Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.
Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Federal Courts
Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy
Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.
Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.
The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”
Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.
“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.
Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.
The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.
Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”
Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.
“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”
“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.
Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.
The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.
Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.
A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.
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