David Katos' Murder

David Kato

It was reported here that David Kato was murdered by a mob, but that appears to be false.  He was beaten to death by a man who lived with him.

Gavin Drake wonders... "about the sanity of some of my colleagues in the media. At a press conference in Dublin this afternoon, held at the end of the 18th Anglican Primates Meeting, RTE’s Religious and Social Affairs Correspondent Joe Little asked the Archbishop of Canterbury about the murder of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato

[...] The Archbishop had earlier said that the Primates had spent very little time at their meeting talking about matters of sexuality. They did issue a statement about the death of David Kato in which they said: “no one should have to live in fear because of the bigotry of others”; and they reiterated statements from the Primates Meeting in 2005, the Windsor Report and the 1998 Lambeth Conference. The Primates statement follows the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments earlier this week.

David Kato was amongst a number of people identified as gay in a Ugandan newspaper under the headline “hang them”; but the police say his murder – he was beaten to death – was not linked to the newspaper campaign.

Ugandan Police say the main suspect in the killing is a man who lived with David Kato and who is now on the run.

To blame an Archbishop for the death of a somebody because they boycotted a meeting over genuine theological differences is to engage in exactly the type of demonisation the journalist was seeking to criticise.

The Church is often accused of focusing on sex and sexuality; but this week the Primates got together and addressed a number of subjects – sexuality not one of them – and yet the media reports focus again on sex. Just who is it obsessed with sex? The Church or the media?

Read all of it here.