stanford student under fire in uganda for covering gay issues

By Lisa M. Krieger-Mercury News (Source: Mecurynews.com)

September 3, 2007: Religious conservatives in Uganda are clamoring for deportation of Stanford University journalism student Katherine Roubos, who covers gay issues for the Kampala-based Daily Monitor newspaper on a university-sponsored summer internship.

Roubos has not been directly threatened or detained, and continues to work in the East African nation, where homosexual activity is illegal and carries a prison sentence.

But a recent gathering of hundreds of angry Ugandans at a protest rally - carrying banners and placards denouncing what they called an "immoral" lifestyle and demanding Roubos' deportation - "was nerve-racking," wrote Roubos in an e-mail.

"It was disturbing to feel so much hate coming toward me in particular, and toward lesbian, gay and bisexual people in general," she wrote.

Roubos, a 22-year-old lesbian from Minnesota, has written five articles related to issues of homosexuality, each assigned by an editor at the paper. The struggles of Africa's fledgling gay rights movement is riveting the continent's press corps. Roubos also covers topics such as energy, agriculture and water quality.

An international studies major at Stanford, she is a recipient of Stanford's Rebele Internship Fund, which offers stipends to students working at low-paying newspapers.

The Aug. 21 protest, held at a local rugby field, followed Roubos' coverage of a news conference held by members of Uganda's small but growing gay rights movement.

In her article, she described an appeal by gay Ugandans - wearing masks to conceal their identities - to respect their dignity. Offenders may face life in prison, but the law is rarely enforced.

The anti-Roubos protest was organized by a coalition of Christian, Muslim and Bahá'í groups called Interfaith Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality. The estimated 200 demonstrators accused Roubos of advocating for gay rights in the country and blamed the West for importing homosexuality.

"We people of Uganda have values. If this lady cannot respect them, then she had better be deported," Eddie Semakula, a coalition member, told Associated Press.

"She is advocating for the rights of homosexuals in a paper that is read by children even. We must protect our children," he said.

The Ugandan minister of ethics and integrity, Nsaba Buturo, attended the protest and said the government supported the enforcement of existing anti-gay laws.

Alerted by an e-mail announcing a protest against homosexuality - with the goal to deport "Lesbian leader Katherine Roubos, who has hijacked the Monitor to promote the gay agenda" - Roubos watched from a nearby cafe. She then joined the crowd, and even covered the event for the next day's paper. Because her photograph hadn't been released, she felt anonymous, she said.

Since then, some talk show and blog commentators have said they want Roubos put on a firing squad or deported, she said. "But I have received no direct personal threats," she said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kampala has been notified by the State Department, which was contacted by the office of Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn.

Roubos is former president of Stanford's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender group Querillas and helped organize the university's 2004 National Coming Out Day celebration.

She has also been involved in international development, indigenous rights in Latin America, women's rights, domestic violence prevention, environmental justice, labor rights and climate change education.

She defended her coverage as balanced journalism, not activism.

"I have been careful to keep personal opinion out of my articles, and to get quotes from all sides on the issues," she said. "I have been involved in gay rights organizations, but I am a human rights activist, not a single-issue person."

"I have no interest in telling Ugandans what to think about homosexuality," she said. "I do have an interest in giving them straightforward information about what government, lawyers, police, pastors and gay people themselves think about the issue and the laws as they currently stand."

The Daily Monitor defended Roubos' "reliable and enterprising" reporting, according to Associated Press. They said her coverage was important "to address the contradictions in our constitution" between forbidding homosexuality and promoting individual freedom.

The Daily Monitor newspaper, which is privately owned and not run by the government, prides itself on being the only independent daily news source in Uganda.

Startled by the outburst against her, Roubos also worries about the implications for Ugandan journalism.

"It has sent a strong signal to local media that it is risky business to discuss issues of sexual orientation," she said.

But she said the protest is driven by a religious minority. Although most Ugandans oppose legalization of homosexuality, she said there is widespread support for freedom of the press.

"A fringe few have used me as a publicity stunt to increase their public image and raise support for their causes," she said.

The campaign - led by the most vociferous critic of her work, a pastor at Kampala's Community Christian Church at Makerere University - "has given him an enormous amount of media time to make a name for himself. Putting me on those placards catapulted the issue into international media, and he has been doing even more interviews than I have, both locally and internationally."

Most protesters "haven't read my articles, they've only heard my name being bashed in church or on the radio," she said.

Ugandan journalists cover the gay rights debate, as well, but have not triggered such controversy, she said. She believes she is singled out because she is an American.

"It is politically useful," she said. "Using my name reinforces the idea that homosexuality is imported from the West."

She added: "If a Ugandan editorial team at a Ugandan paper assigns, revises, approves and publishes a story about homosexuality, the appointed journalist can hardly be accused of cultural insensitivity."

Roubos returns to Stanford this month, where she'll complete her degree by winter.

Until then, "I'm taking common-sense precautions."

But she knows that gay Ugandans are less fortunate.

"If the situation intensifies in Kampala, I can get on a plane," she said. But gay Ugandans "risk their lives each time they leave their houses in the morning; they risk everything to speak on TV or radio.

"It is that story that merits international attention, not mine," she said.