Ugandan tabloid ‘exposes top 200 homos’ one day after harsh anti-gay law signed

A tabloid newspaper in Uganda has published a list of the “200 top” gay people, a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill imposing life sentences for those imprisoned for being gay.

President Yoweri Museveni signed the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill in front of politicians and reporters on Monday at State House, his official residence in Entebbe.

The law calls for repeat offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in prison and makes it a criminal offence not to report someone for being gay.

Lesbians are covered by the bill for the first time.

The Red Pepper newspaper on Tuesday featured a front-page story under the headline “EXPOSED”. The list of 200 people features prominent gay rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema, a hip-hop artist and a Catholic priest.

It nodded to a 2011 report by a now closed newspaper which called for the execution of gay people.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry today said his country is now reviewing its relations with Uganda, following President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to sign anti-gay legislation.

EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton described the move as “draconian”.

Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it was “an abhorrent backwards step for human rights”.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “deeply saddened and disappointed”. 

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