Wasswa John, a LGBT+ activist and member of the Children of the Sun Foundation (COSF), was brutally beaten in his home on 3 October 2019 by a group of unidentified locals in the Jinja district. The group used machetes and hoes to beat John who was left with serious head injuries. He was brought to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, where he died from his injuries two days after the attack.

John’s family had disowned him when they found out that he was gay. They did not visit him while he was in hospital before he died.

Local LGBT+ people reported the incident to the authorities, but community leaders are not optimistic: “Nothing positive will be reached…Security forces hate LGBTIQ persons with a passion,” the source stated.

John’s attack and subsequent death happened on the same week that a high-profile Ugandan minister referred to LGBT+ people as “terrorists” live on a local news programme. In Uganda being gay is punishable by life imprisonment.

Source: Pink News