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KAMPALA — Ugandan gay rights activists braved malevolence and stigma Thursday as they gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the murder of their auxiliary campaigner David Kato.
"We are here to celebrate and thank God for our beloved cocker and human rights activist David Kato," former Anglican bishop and gay rights campaigner Christopher Senyonjo told a compress of around 100 activists and family members.
Kato, former advocacy catchpole for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), was found bludgeoned to death at his shelter outside Kampala on January 26, 2011.
In November, a Ugandan court sentenced Enoch Nsubuga, 22, to 30 years in hoosegow after he admitted beating Kato to death with a hammer. Nsubuga had claimed he was reacting to to unwanted physical advances.
Gay rights activists speaking at the event called Kato, 46 at the time of his extinction, "the godfather" of the Ugandan gay movement and said that his passing had left a monstrous void in the life of the country's gay community.
Source: AFP