UPDATED: see below
The BBC and Reuters are reporting that the funeral for David Kato in Nakawala, Uganda, turned chaotic after the local Anglican priest began to berate gay people and refused to bury Kato’s body.
Reuters reports:
During the funeral — which was attended by about 300 people, including about 100 members of the country’s gay community — the pastor lashed out at homosexuality, provoking a strong reaction from friends of Kato.
“The world has gone crazy,” the pastor told the congregation through a microphone.
“People are turning away from the scriptures. They should turn back, they should abandon what they are doing. You cannot start admiring a fellow man.”
Gay activists, wearing T-shirts featuring Kato’s face with sleeves coloured with the gay pride flag, then stormed the pulpit and grabbed the microphone.
“It is ungodly,” the pastor shouted, before being blocked from sight.
An unidentified female activist then began to shout from the pulpit.
“Who are you to judge others?” she shouted. “We have not come to fight. You are not the judge of us. As long as he’s gone to God his creator, who are we to judge Kato?”
Locals intervened on the side of the pastor and scuffles broke out before he was taken away to Kato’s father’s house to calm the situation.
Villagers then refused to bury the body at which point a group of Kato’s friends, most of whom were gay, carried his coffin to the grave and buried it themselves.
The BBC says:
Our reporter says hundreds of people – friends, family, colleagues and diplomats – crowded outside Mr Kato’s family home in the village of Nakawala in Mukono district, 40km (about 25 miles) from Kampala.
Many members of the lesbian and gay community wore T-shirts with Mr Kato’s portrait on the front and the words “La luta continua [the struggle continues]” printed on the back.
They were shocked when the priest (Thomas Musoke) started condemning homosexuals.
“You must repent. Even the animals know the difference between a male and a female,” he said, before warning that they would face the fate of residents in Sodom and Gomorrah, the biblical cities destroyed by God.
Gay rights activists then stormed the pulpit and prevented the priest from continuing.
An excommunicated priest who has in the past called for people to respect the rights of homosexuals then presided over the rest of the service.
Box Turtle Bulletin has the story here.
UPDATED with comment from Canon Albert Ogle:
The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle has more detail in his commentary in the SDGLN:
Since Kato was an Anglican, the local parish church of Nagojje was responsible for his funeral rites to be read from the Book of Common Prayer. …the Church of Uganda sent no priest, no bishop, but a Lay Reader to conduct the service.
Bishop Christopher Senyonjo arrived in his purple cassock accompanied by his wife Mary and let the master of ceremonies know he would like to say a few words at some point in the service…..As an excommunicated bishop of the Church of Uganda, Christopher has no standing in the official hierarchy of the church. The Lay Reader began to make inappropriate remarks condemning homosexuality quite graphically and stating the Church of Uganda’s position that homosexuality was a sin and against the Bible.
The crowd began to cheer him on and the bishop described the event as turning into an anti-gay rally…..The anger and frustration of the LGBT community and its straight allies finally erupted when a young lesbian who worked with David at SMUG called Kasha seized the mic and the Lay Reader’s diatribe against LGBT people was finally replaced by the voices of those whom David fought and died for.
…
Following this horrific incident with the Lay Reader who condemned the LGBT community, Bishop Christopher, as a bishop of the church and wearing his purple cassock, walked behind the coffin carried by David’s friends and family to the graveside. There, although he was disinvited by the Church to speak at the funeral, he found a way to bring words of comfort to the mourners and said the final blessing over David’s battered remains.