Boston To Hold Community Vigil for Slain Ugandan LGBT Leader

BOSTON (MA) - Boston Pride, along with Queer Women of Color and Friends and Join the Impact MA, will host a community vigil to remember and honor David Kato, a brave leader of Uganda's persecuted LGBT community who was found bludgeoned to death in his home in late January.

The candlelight ceremony will take place on Thursday, February 10 at 6:00pm in Copley Square. A screening of "Missionaries of Hate" will follow at Club Caf� on Columbus A...venue. This powerful documentary explores the efforts of American evangelicals to spread hatred and violence against gays in Uganda.

"The onus is on us to remember David as we press forward for true equality, both here in Massachusetts and throughout the world. We will gather not only to pay respect to this fearless hero, but to recommit ourselves to the fight for absolute and unequivocal freedom," states Keri Aulita, Deputy Director.

"Kato was one of those rare individuals who embodied the courage of human conviction; the Rosa Parks of his country; a man who was willing to stand up for justice whatever the costs. In a country that is still contemplating the death penalty as punishment for homosexuality, David's actions speak to his selflessness and his standing as a true leader. David's death is a loss not just for Uganda's LGBT community, but for the international civil rights movement as a whole."

"When we gather in solidarity for a brother lost to shameful violence, we will do so in the relative comfort of a city that has largely come to accept and embrace its LGBT people. We will not know the terror and anxiety that out LGBT people face every day on the streets of Uganda. So we take a moment to contemplate the character of a man who defied the horrific hatred of his times to provide a beacon of light to his community."