Ugandan anti-LGBTQ pastor uses Charlie Kirk murder to sell books
Ugandan homophobe Martin Ssempa echoes allegations of right-wing Americans.
Pastor Martin Ssempa, Uganda’s most prominent homophobic cleric, has been using the murder of American right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk to promote Ssempa’s homophobia agenda and to seek buyers for Ssempa’s recently published anti-LGBTQ book.
In a series of social media posts, Ssempa blames members of the LGBTQI+ community for Kirk’s assassination.
On Sept. 20, he wrote on X/Twitter: “New information on the killing of @charliekirk11 show that it was well planned by the LGBTQ forums.”
He also referred to the main suspect in the Kirk assassination as transgender and included a link where readers could buy his book “Why Are You Geh? Africa’s Resistance to Homosexuality” on Amazon.com.
“…the transgender who killed @charliekirk11 had a partner who was “transitioning” in a similar man to woman change. This is the evidence of @BarackObama world wide LGBTQ executive order which weaponized the entire US government to impose these Sodomies on the civilized world. Read my book #WhyareyouGeh to understand #Africas Resistance to homosexuality. ”
On Sept. 10, Kirk, an American right-wing political activist and a close ally of President Trump, was assassinated while addressing an audience on the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, U.S..
Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused of killing Kirk, is not trans, but has a transgender partner/roommate.
The assassination was highlighted as an instance of increasing political violence within the United States and was widely condemned.
In his posts, Ssempa largely quotes U.S-based anti-LGBTQ individuals and publications that are well known for their homophobic agenda.
Publications including the Wall Street Journal claimed that the confused and confusing inscriptions on the bullet casings used by the suspect contained messages related to “transgender ideology”.
This was met with calls for caution from LGBTQ rights groups, saying that “transgender ideology” was a term commonly used in right-wing circles to frame transgender identity as a political choice.
Jacey Thornton, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Rainbow Utah, said, “It sounds like really stretching to find a way to tie this in to the trans community”, adding that this is “very harmful to this ongoing dialogue that’s happening, especially on social media”.
Kirk opposed gender-affirming care for transgender people and compared doctors who offer it to Nazi doctors committing atrocities.
The New York Times reported that a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the case said that the allegations linking the LGBTQI+ community to Kirk’s killing did not match other summaries of evidence. This however has not stopped hate groups and homophobes from using such fake stories to further their agenda. Pastor Ssempa and like-minded groups are now calling further action by the Trump Administration against the trans community, including banning Pride flags and incarcerating transgender people.
The Human Rights Campaign published an open letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that “This reporting was reckless and irresponsible, and it led to a wave of threats against the trans community from right-wing influencers—and a resulting wave of terror for a community that is already living in fear.” The Wall Street Journal later amended the story with a note from the editor but did not issue a retraction.
Ssempa’s misinformation has found fertile ground in Uganda where anti LGBTQI+ sentiments are high thanks to the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) of 2023, which prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
The book title “Why Are You Geh” [Why Are You Gay] comes from a homophobic question that was directed at LGBTQ advocate Pepe Julian Onziema several years ago during a television talk show on NBS TV. Ssempa was one of the panelists during the show.
Ssempa has compiled his misinformation into the book that was launched in Uganda in April. The launch event was fully funded by Anita Among, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament and the chief architect of the AHA.
