Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Ugandan Court Grants Temporary Injunction Against Tabloid Publishing Names of Gays

CNN and Canadian Press both report on a temporary injunction issued by a court in Uganda ordering the publication Rolling Stone (unrelated to the U.S. magazine of the same name) to stop publishing names of photos of people it claims are gay. Last month the tabloid published the names of 100 supposedly leading gays and lesbians in the country accompanied by a yellow banner reading "hang them." On Monday it published a second list and photos of people it said are gay and urged that they be reported to the police. The gay rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit that led to the temporary injunction. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 23. Last year Uganda came under heavy criticism as a bill was introduced that would have imposed the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" and life imprisonment for gays. (See prior posting.) It is reported that some American evangelicals have promoted the anti-gay agenda in Uganda. (See prior posting.) Uganda is mostly Christian and, according to CNN, a Pew poll reported that almost two-thirds of the country's Christians favor making the Bible the law of the land.