Ugandan Judge
Cites Rights for Lesbians

Two Ugandan women were awarded $7,000 Monday after a judge ruled their rights were infringed upon when they were arrested for being suspected lesbians in 2005.

According to lesbian and bisexual rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda, or FARUG, Yvonne Oyoo and Victor Juliet Mukasa had been waiting for 17 months for a verdict.

Oyoo was awarded $5,000 by Uganda High Court justice Stella Arach-Amoko for "arbitrary torture." Police sexually assaulted Oyoo, who was a guest in Mukasa's home when police raided it in 2005. Mukasa, a leader in Ugandan human rights activism, was awarded $2,000.

"It will be the first case of its kind in Uganda where LGBTs are the ones suing the government," Mukasa said to New Internationalist magazine in 2007. "I am suing because of the constant human rights violations that are committed against LGBT people by the government and the public of Uganda without anyone raising a hand."

The case may be the first time that gays or lesbians took the police to court, according to BBC News. It is estimated that 500,000 gays live in Uganda, a nation of 31 million. The country's leaders are outspoken against homosexuality, and consensual sex between people of the same gender is illegal. (Michelle Garcia, Advocate.com)