This Ugandan minister claims gays want to rape him & he’s getting a “find-the-gays” machine

By claiming that gay people are out to rape him and announcing that he’s getting a “find-the-gays” machine, Uganda’s minister of ethics should be the laughing stock of the world – if he wasn’t so dangerous.

In a bizarre new interview with the notoriously anti-gay Red Pepper tabloid, Simon Lokodo, the so-called Minister of Ethics and Integrity, made some astonishing claims about gay people and his brutal war against homosexuality.

The misguided and clearly delusional official stated:

• “The homos have been sending me messages threatening my life. Most of them even say they want to rape me but I don’t fear anything… I don’t think the rape threats will deter me.”

• “Just yesterday a son of one of the richest Ugandans came here and confessed. The boy is wearing three pampers. His anus was shattered beyond repair. He cannot sit with ease. He is suffering and wallowing in pain. When the boy undressed before me pus was oozing from his rear.”

• “My sources have revealed to me that the western world has pumped a lot of money in the homosexuality spread campaign. They want to finish off our beautiful culture. Recruits are welcomed with huge chunks of money. The boys and girls who have been planted here to recruit our children earn Shs500000 per person. They are paid handsomely. The schools that are welcoming these homosexual recruiters receive millions of cash.”

• “I have a complaint before my desk that the headmaster [at a school in Eastern Uganda] is recruiting all his students. A complaint is before me here indicating that this head teacher masturbates boys’ sperms and keeps them in test tubes. We are going to arrest him and the school will be closed immediately.”

• “I have fresh tactics. One of them is a censor gadget or machine. We are going to procure this machine and it will detect homos and porn actors especially those misusing applications like WhatsApp with sex acts. The South Koreans are programming it. And very soon we will ship it into the country and all the evil will be busted.”

With senior government officials making such blatantly fabricated claims it’s little wonder everyday Ugandans may see LGBT people as an alien threat in their communities. That any legitimate government would allow such a man to serve as a minister is frankly mind-boggling.

Lokodo has been a thorn in the side of the LGBT community for many years. Most recently he ordered a violent raid on a Uganda Pride pageant that saw police beating activists and participants, leading one person to jump out of a six-storey window. (The victim was hospitalised with severe spinal injuries.)

A former Catholic priest, Lokodo has suggested in a previous interview that heterosexual rape is more morally acceptable than consensual homosexual behaviour.

He’s also compared same-sex marriage to bestiality, said that homosexuality was brought to Uganda by white people, has threatened to ban NGOs that support LGBT equality and has personally accompanied police in raids on LGBT rights workshops.

Since 2006, the Red Pepper newspaper, which routinely calls gay people “bum-drillers”, has outed gays and lesbians in its pages, often revealing private information, photos, and places of residence and work that would easily allow them to be found.

Colonial-era legislation criminalising gay sex remains in force in Uganda, allowing the courts to imprison anyone found guilty of homosexuality for life.