David Kato, Remembered
In cities across the U.S., from San Francisco to Washington D.C., slain Ugandan activist David Kato was remembered. Below, the scene in New York City, where the Rev. Canon Petero Sabune, a Ugandan and the Episcopal Church’s program officer for Africa and the Middle East, pointed upward toward the United Nations and declared, “The General Assembly can’t sit there and talk about human rights and let this happen. They cannot talk about human rights when people are being killed for sexual orientation.”
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[NY1]
But KevC – it was a political rally. It was a vigil in memory of a gay activist in a country which is so viciously homophobic they want to legalise sexual genocide against gay people. Only 3 months ago David Kato was photographed and named as gay by a Ugandan newspaper alongside the headlin ‘Hang them’. Carlos Castro’s murder is also a tragedy, but his murder was not instigated and incited by vicious bigotry from his government (Portugal in fact even has marriage equality).
The vigil for David Kato was not just to remember him but to raise awareness of the murderous homophobia rampant across the country of Uganda and the continent of Africa.
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A vigil is supposed to be solemn and respectful, even if the issue is politically charged. Look at the vigil for the Arizona shooting victims. A political issue, but the vigil itself was solemn and respectful. But this “vigil” was a political protest. That’s fine but don’t call it a vigil. I found it to be tacky.
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I don’t understand this protest vigil. It seems very political. Gays are murdered everyday somewhere in the world. I don’t see any vigils acknowledging them. A gay activist was murdered in NYC named Carlos Castro. But he was labelled as an old pervert so he didn’t get a vigil from the NYC gay community. If you’re going to hold a vigil, at least try not to make it a political rally because it’s friggin tacky.