Ugandan Pastor and human rights fighter will be in Pensacola
Ugandan pastor and human rights activist Mark Kiyimba will visit Pensacola this week. His trip coincides with the Ugandan Constitutional Court's decision last week to overturn a 2013 law mandating harsh sentences for those accused of being gay.
Homosexuality has long been illegal in Uganda. However, the new law, passed by the legislature in December and signed into law in February by President Yoweri Musevini, would have allowed for life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality," The New York Times reported Friday.
The bill, which prompted global outcry and aid cuts by some Western nations, was declared illegal by the nation's highest court on technical grounds. According to the court, legislators lacked the necessary quorum in December to pass the law. The ruling leaves open the possibility that the law could be voted on again.
The developments in Uganda will likely be a topic of conversation when Kiyimba speaks this weekend. The pastor fled Uganda in 2011, after being persecuted for his opposition to further criminalization of homelessness.
Before taking refuge in the United States, he had been the pastor of a Unitarian Universalist church in Kampala. He also operated a primary school in the country and a home for AIDS orphans and homeless gay youth.
Since leaving, Kiyimba has traveled across the country, educating people about the plight of gay Ugandans and urging Western Christians to support human rights in Africa.
He was awarded the National Education Association's Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in Human Rights in 2012 in recognition of his activism. This weekend, he will speak at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Pensacola.
The Rev. Julie Kane, who pastors the church, met Kiyimba in 2011 — when they were in a class together at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and he was a visiting minister.
Kiyimba will deliver the Sunday service at the church at 10 a.m. The service will be followed by an informal question-and-answer session. At 6 p.m., Kiyimba will attend a potluck and presentation at the church, 9888 Pensacola Blvd. Kiyimba will speak again at a brown bag luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Safe Port Counseling Center, 1720 W. Fairfield Dr.
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