"DAVID KATO, MY FEARLESS FRIEND...."

By Blogger Nsubuga in the Guardian:

I first met David in school. I know he was a few years ahead but apart from that, my memory fails.

I didn't know he was gay. I was yet to put meaning to the impulses I felt then. I knew I was different, but couldn't see the same difference in anyone else.

Later, when I was as "out" as I could be in Uganda's secretive gay community, we met again. We were having a party. My partner had organised it. And David Kato Kisule was the stranger claiming to be gay who wanted to crash the party.
....

I felt like crying when the news came of the death of a friend, confidant, fellow activist. And the manner of his death: horrible. Someone entered his home in the middle of the day and hit him with a hammer. Two blows to the head.
....

By the time Rolling Stone came out, David was so well known outside the community that they thought it fitting to put his photo on the front page. He was one of the three people who sued the paper. On 3 January, they won the case, securing us a small victory.

But in Uganda, such exposure has a price. In court, David was chased by anti-gay activists. Strangers knew he was gay. Even at home in Mukono they also knew.

Read it all.

May David rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all who loved David.

Pray that justice may be done. Pray for the murderer.

Pray that David's death may be the inspiration for many to work to bring about change in Ugandan society, politics, and religion.

UPDATE: read Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement on David Kato's murder at The Lead.