The Joint Working Group  (JWG) a network representing 24 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) organizations throughout South Africa was outraged by a column that appeared in the Sunday Sun on 20 July 2008 (Call me names, but gay is not ok) that is filled with hate speech against lesbian and gay people.

The column is filled with vitriolic rhetoric aimed against lesbians and gays. It also promotes the denial of the basic human rights of lesbian and gay people. We are deeply offended that Jon Qwelane wrote such a piece and that the Sunday Sun published it alongside an equally offensive cartoon.

We condemn the abuse of human rights against LGBTI and HIV activists

On the 4 June 2008 three Ugandan LGBTI/ HIV activists were arrested, detained and charged with ‘Criminal Trespass’, under section 302 of the penal code of Uganda. The arrests occurred during the HIV/AIDS Implementers meeting in Kampala. The three activists Pepe Julian Onziema, Valentine Kalende and Usaam Mukwaya were objecting to the exclusion of sexual minorities from the HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in the country. The charge carries a one-year jail term.

Gender DynamiX, the only organisation focusing exclusively on the rights of transgendered people in Africa strongly condemns the arrest of three LGBTI activists, one of which is transgendered, on Wednesday, 4 June 2008 in Uganda and calls on the Ugandan Government for their immediate and unconditional release.
 
Onziema Patience, (28), Valentine Kalende (27) and Auf (26) were attending the 2008 International HIV/AIDS Implementer’s Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, and were arrested while raising awareness for the plight of LGBT people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Three Ugandan LGBT activists have been arrested following a peaceful protest at the HIV/AIDS Implementer’s Meeting currently underway in Kampala, Uganda.

These activists were peacefully protesting at the meeting to draw attention to the plight of lesbian, gay and transgender people in Uganda in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Ugandan government criminalises homosexuality and refuses to support HIV/AIDS programmes for lesbian, gay and transgender men and women in that country.

Human Rights Groups Demand Immediate Release


Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today condemned the arrests of three Ugandan LGBT activists and called for their immediate and unconditional release.  The three --Onziema Patience, (an FTM transgender, 28), Valentine Kalende (female, age 27) and Auf (male, age 26)--were arrested yesterday morning by the Uganda Police Force at the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting currently taking place in Kampala, Uganda.  Along with other LGBT and HIV and AIDS activists, they were peacefully protesting statements made by a Ugandan government official that no funds would be directed toward HIV programs targeting men who have sex with men. SMUG and IGLHRC have fears for the safety of the three activists.