UGANDA: Christian gay advocacy worker found decapitated
Episcopal News Service. July 6, 2010 [070610-02]
ENS staff
ENS has learned that the blog post on which the following article is based contained erroneous information. The quotes attributed to Bishop Christopher Senyonjo are not his words and the information about Pasikali Kashusbe's severed head being found in a pit latrine appears to be a hoax.
Ugandan police have identified the severed head of a young Christian and gay rights worker, according to a blog post from the Rev. Colin Coward, a Church of England priest and director of U.K.-based gay and lesbian advocacy group Changing Attitude.
A search team had been looking for a missing pro-gay priest, the Rev. Henry Kayizzi Nsubuga, when they discovered the decapitated head of Pasikali Kashusbe in a pit latrine on a farm in Makindye Sabagabo, Wakiso District, where he worked.
Kashusbe was a volunteer worker for Integrity Uganda, a group that campaigns for gay rights. He went missing in early June during the Ugandan Martyrs Day commemorations.
Coward said in his blog post that a mutilated torso, which was found a few days earlier less than a mile from the farm, likely belonged to Kashusbe.
Nsubuga has been missing for three weeks since he delivered a speech at St. Paul's Church, Kanyanya, in support of homosexuality in Uganda.
Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, chairperson of Integrity Uganda who was excommunicated by the Church of Uganda in 2006 for his support of homosexuals, lamented Kashusbe's murder as "absurd," adding in Coward's post that "clearly, the values of tolerance and social inclusion are sadly being sacrificed on the altar of state ignorance, ineptness and good old colonial stupidity."
Integrity Uganda declared Monday, July 5, as day of mourning for "countless many" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people "who continue to go missing in the name of state homophobia."
Kashusbe's funeral will be held on July 6 in the Mbarara Region of Uganda.
"Pasikali's death is tragic, and stands as a reason why the Anglican Communion must change its teaching on homosexuality," said Coward. "There is no reason why the consciences of those who oppose the full inclusion of LGBT people should be allowed to inhibit change in the church. The prevention of torture and murder of any individual must always be the first priority, ensuring that all citizens and Christians can live in an environment of love, security and affirmation."
Homosexuality in Uganda currently carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment. A bill was introduced in October 2009 that would have broadened the criminalization of homosexuality in the East African country and introduced the death penalty in certain cases. International criticism drove Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to call for a review of the proposed legislation and in May 2010 a committee recommended withdrawing it.
In early February, the Anglican Church of Uganda supported a more comprehensive law and restated its position that it believes "homosexual practice has no place in God's design of creation, the continuation of the human race through procreation, or His plan of redemption."
Coward said that "the longer the argument about avoiding splits and schism in the church continues in the face of the horrendous legislation proposed in Uganda and the murder of LGBT people in the U.K. and the USA as well as Uganda and other African countries, the more insistent becomes the call for change in the church, now. We are committed to radical change in the Anglican Communion."