Tampa Photography Blog

Today I’m reminded just how great it is to be an American.

A Uganda newspaper (Uganda Rolling Stone) ran a front-page story this month entitled “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak.” Obviously, this kind of journalism (or lack thereof) would not happen in the United States but the newspaper did this to expose “evil in the Ugandan society,” according to Managing Editor Giles Muhame.

This story comes one year after a bill was introduced in Parliament that would make homosexuality (already illegal in Uganda), punishable by death.

According to gay rights activists, four people have been attacked since the article ran.

Rolling Stone also claimed that homosexuals were raiding schools, looking to recruit one million children by 2012. The difficulty with a foreign media story like this is that we don’t know the reality of what’s happening in Africa and who’s telling the truth.

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were discussing her upcoming trip to Israel. As we were chatting, she commented on a blog series I did of what it was like to cover Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We both agreed that no one know what’s really happening until you visit a place yourself and can say with 100% certainty, “This is what I saw.”

I can’t find peace when human rights are being trampled on, whether it’s in the United States or Africa. It doesn’t matter if you agree with someone’s sexual preference or not, they have a right to be who they are. My heart breaks for those Ugandans who are now in hiding in their native country because they are afraid of being attacked or killed on the street.

I’m sure this kind of hatred happens all over the world, whether it’s backed by a newspaper article or controversial bill, but it doesn’t make it right.

*Photo by AP*