LGBT Activist Concerned Over Ugandan Ambassador Keynote 

An LGBT activist has asked human rights groups to cancel a speech by the Ugandan ambassador to the U.S. during an upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Maryland.

"I am writing to you to share my shock, sadness and disappointment that the featured keynote speaker for the United Negro College Fund ... event celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is H.E. Perezi K. Kamunanwire, Ambassador to the United States from Uganda," the activist, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote to the Washington Blade.

The activist noted longstanding, virulently antigay legislation in Uganda, and said that Kamunanwire's appearance at the event next week would be "most inappropriate."

Joye Griffen, a spokesperson for the Fund, said the ambassador was asked to speak due to his career as an educator and scholar.