Uganda activist Frank Mugisha: One of world's 'great leaders'
Fortune magazine included LGBTI human rights defender Frank Mugisha of Uganda in its 2017 list of the world’s greatest leaders.
Mugisha is executive director of the LGBTI rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda.
“Imagine functioning in a society that still criminalizes—and even debates the death penalty for—homosexual activity,” the article reads. “That is the world facing Frank Mugisha. The 37-year-old, who came out at 14, spoke out against the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which mandated life in prison for LGBT Ugandans, and he led the campaign that eventually led to the bill’s invalidation by the courts. More battles lie ahead for a leader of a community that faces open hostility.”
Fortune’s list seems deliberately non-traditional. It grants the No. 1 position to Theo Epstein, president for baseball operations at the Chicago Cubs, which won the World Series last year after 108 years without winning that title. The list puts philanthropist Melinda Gates at No. 4, but excludes her husband, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.
Mugisha is listed 44th in a list of 50 leaders, just behind No. 43, Marc Benioff, chief executive of the Salesforce software company, and just before No. 45, Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania.
Fortune states about its list:
“Our point isn’t to declare that, say, No. 7 on our list is “greater” than No. 9. The point is that great leaders can be anywhere—at the helm of a giant corporation, running a rural college, or in a cramped office exerting influence through sheer personal energy.”
Mugisha is one of three people originally from Africa who are honored on the list.
The other two are:
- Strive Masiyiwa, formerly of Zimbabwe, now in London. He is the founder of the Econet Wireless Global telecommunications company founder.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author.
Related articles:
- Ugandan activists travel to U.S. seeking trial of anti-gay pastor (November 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Police block Uganda’s fifth annual Pride Parade (September 2016, 76crimes.com)
- With N.Y. youth’s help, Uganda activists boost education (October 2015, 76crimes.com)
