Father forgive them, for they know not what they do

David Kato Kisule (February 13, 1964 - January 26, 2011)

David Kato Kisule (February 13, 1964 – January 26, 2011)

A respected teacher and iconic LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda's gay rights movement and one of the founding members of SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), David Kato was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in 2011, shortly after winning a lawsuit against the Ugandan tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone, which had published his name and photograph along with 99 other people, calling for their execution as homosexuals. The article was published in October 2010 and on November 2, 2010; Kato along with two other SMUG members, sued the tabloid to force it to stop publishing the names and pictures of people it believed to be gay or lesbian. The photos were published under a headline of "Hang them" and were accompanied by the individuals' addresses. Giles Muhame, the paper's managing editor, commented: "I haven't seen the court injunction but the war against gays will and must continue. We have to protect our children from this dirty homosexual affront.” On January 3, 2011, High Court Justice V. F. Kibuuka Musoke ruled that Rolling Stone's publication of the lists, and the accompanying incitation to violence, threatened Kato's and the others' "fundamental rights and freedoms;" attacked their right to human dignity; and violated their constitutional right to privacy. The court ordered the newspaper to pay Kato and the other two plaintiff 1.5 million Ugandan shillings each. It was a short lived victory for Kato, but he shone the light for the thousands of stigmatized and vulnerable LGBT people in Africa and gave them courage to stand up and fight for their rights.

In the name of morals

Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras – (1946 -7th April, 2010)

Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras – (1946 -7th April, 2010)

A respected and learned man dedicates 22 years of his life to a university, parting valuable knowledge to the youth and moulding them into valued citizens of the world and how does the university reward him? By taking away his fundamental right to privacy, suspending him from his job, expelling him from his accommodation, defiling his dignity, traumatizing him mentally and ultimately leading him to his mysterious death; all in the name of upholding morality.

Gay Classmate

Lawrence Fobes “Larry” King (1993 – 2008)

Lawrence Fobes “Larry” King (January 13, 1993 – February 14, 2008)

Lawrence Fobes "Larry" King was born on January 13, 1993 in Ventura, California. Larry had a very hard childhood. He was adopted at age two by Gregory and Dawn King. His biological father had abandoned his wife who was a drug addict and failed to care for her son properly. Larry was prescribed medication because he had been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, a condition in which a child fails to develop relationships with his or her caregivers. His schooling suffered too due to this condition.

Echoes

Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984)

Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984)

Charles O. Howard was an American hate-crime victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Charles and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers: Shawn Mabry-16, Jim Baines-15, and Daniel Ness-17, harassed Charles for being gay. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Charles and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.

Prayer to the living...

Remember your contemporaries who have passed away, and were of your age.
Remember the honours and fame they earned, the high posts they held and the beautiful bodies they possessed, and today all of them are turned to dust.
How they have left orphans and widows behind them.
No sign of them is left today, and they lie in the dark holes underneath the earth.
Picture their faces before your mind's eye and ponder.
Do not fix hopes on your wealth and do not laugh away life.
Remember how they walked and now all their joints lie separated and the tongue with which they talked lightly is eaten away by the worms and their teeth are corroded. They were foolishly providing for twenty years when even a day of their lives was not left. They never expected that death shall come to them thus at an unexpected hour.

- Ghazzali, (1058 -1111 A.D), mystic and philosopher, Islam, Sufism
Source : Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.28

Photograph courtesy - Mr. Ravi kanth