In a Ugandan newspaper, the front page story featured a list of Uganda's 100 "top" homosexuals, with a banner across it that read "Hang Them." The list included names, pictures, and addresses. The article also said that gay men were recruiting one million children by raiding schools, a common fear tactic used in Uganda. Since this article was published, at least four men on the list have been attacked. One person on the list experienced neighbors throwing stones at his house. Many others on the list are in hiding.
This article came out five days before the one-year anniversary of the introduction of a controversial bill that would impose a penalty of life in prison for homosexual acts. The bill also proposed that the death penalty should be imposed if the person was HIV-positive, was a "serial offender", or if one of the participants was a minor. Also proposed in the bill was that family members or friends could face jail time if they knew about homosexuals acts but didn't report it (more here). There was an international uproar over this bill and a lot of international pressure was put on the president of Uganda. As a result, the bill was quietly shelved.
Gay people in Uganda say that they have faced a year of harassment and attacks since the bill was introduced. Many gay people have faced evictions from apartments, intimidation on the street, unlawful arrests, and physical assaults this past year. Over the last year, more than 20 homosexuals have been attacked, and an additional 17 have been arrested and are in prison. The numbers are up from the same period two years ago. One twenty-seven year old gay man in Uganda said, "Before the introduction of the bill in parliament most people did not mind about our activities. But since then, we are harassed by many people who hate homosexuality. The publicity the bill got made people come to know about us and they started mistreating us."
After the newspaper was released, the government ordered the newspaper to cease publishing -- not because of the front story/list, but because the newspaper simply hadn't registered with the the government. After they complete their paperwork, the newspaper will be free to publish again. (Way to take a principled stand, Uganda!) A rights activist has said that a lawsuit against the newspaper is in the works. (Full Story)
Afghanistan has thrown out 1.3 million ballots that were cast in the parliamentary elections because of fraud. That is nearly a quarter of the ballots cast. This indicates that fraud was pervasive in the election (and this adds to Afghanistan's ongoing problem with corruption). However, observers note that these fraudulent ballots having been voided is an indication that officials are looking to cut down on fraud, and that this an improvement. You may remember Afghanistan's presidential election last year when election commissioners included obviously fraudulent ballots in the overall tally, which helped President Karzai achieve a win. It was only after drawn-out investigation (and international pressure) that about one million ballots were thrown out (a majority of them were for Karzai). It went to a run-off election, but Karzai's opponent Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the run-off election because he said it would not be a free or fair election. This left a black mark on Afghanistan elections, and this year's parliamentary elections were viewed internationally as a test of whether the Afghan government is committed to reforms and fighting against fraud.
It is not yet clear what these thrown-out ballots will mean to the makeup of the 249-seat parliament.
A five-member fraud investigation panel also needs to rule on more than 2,000 complaints that are considered serious enough to affect the election results. Some candidates might be outright disqualified if the panel finds that they were behind attempt to manipulate the results. The election commission has already referred 224 candidates to the panel to be investigated for being involved in cheating. These investigations will have to be concluded before the election results can be finalized. The election commission said it would probably take about three weeks before the results will be finalized, but now officials are only saying the final results will be released as soon as they can.
There is a fear among Afghans that those living in provinces with a large number of disqualified ballots may not have their legitimate ballots counted. There is also the fear that in ethnically-mixed provinces, there's a possibility that the thrown-out ballots may favor one ethnic group over another. (Full Story)
In an update to yesterday's DADT post, the Obama administration went to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, and issued an emergency request to have U.S. District Judge Phillips's ruling stayed. The three-judge panel issued an order that granted the government's request. They are allowing the Pentagon to continue enforcing DADT for now. As early as next week the court will hear arguments and decide whether to allow a longer stay (i.e., a stay until February, when they will hear the full appeal). The lawyer for the Log Cabin Republicans (who filed the initial suit) said this was a minor setback and predicted that they will be victorious on the question of the longer stay. That means that as early as Monday the stay might be overturned and the Pentagon will have to stop enforcing DADT again (like they did for approximately two days). Alternatively, if the appeals court sides with the government, DADT will be in effect at least until February and possibly longer depending on their ruling.
The article also provided some quotes and anecdotes from potential recruits at a military recruiting office. One 21-year-old said he would not be happy about a DADT repeal because he fears sexual advances by gay men in boot camp (because that's exactly what gay people do all the time -- hit on bigoted straight people). He said he hoped to finish training before a repeal takes effect (if he really does believe gay people are just looking to hit on straight people all the time, what makes him think the advances would stop after training?!). He then admitted that he knows no gay people (though he probably does whether he knows it or not...) and that he's never actually been approached by one (yeah, exactly). This particular gent declined to give his name. Of course. If you're too ashamed to give your name because of the opinion you're providing, that's probably a good indication that you shouldn't be having those opinions. Welcome to the 21st century. I was also intrigued by another recruit interviewee that said he is not gay, but he does know a gay fashion designer in Manhattan who served in the marines (!)...and a gay actor who played a soldier in an Army commercial (haha! Well, that's pretty much the same thing as being in the military). (Full Story)
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