Tag Archives: gay witch hunt

Gay History

Gay History – January 7, 1949: 4 Men Plead Guilty To “Homosexual Offenses” After Gay Witch Hunt at University of Missouri

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Via the Associated Press:

Columbia, Mo., Jan 7. (AP). Four men pleaded guilty yesterday to statutory charges and were placed on probation four years. They were Warren W. Heathman, itinerant agriculture instruction for the Veterans Administration at Rolla; Harry J. Sohn Jr., of Hannibal, former University of Missouri student; Willie D. Coots of Columbia, former clerk in a novelty shop, and Joe Byers, local grocer.

In the late 1940’s, Missouri law classified homosexual acts as felony crimes against nature. The University of Missouri in Columbia first began ousting homosexuals during this period, after it developed a reputation as a “safe haven” for gay men. 

Under orders from the state legislature, MU developed policies to halt the influx of homosexuals, and university officials set up a committee to investigate suspects. The university also identified homosexuals based on the testimonies of students and faculty who were offered immunity from discipline in return for testifying against one another.

Continue reading Gay History – January 7, 1949: 4 Men Plead Guilty To “Homosexual Offenses” After Gay Witch Hunt at University of Missouri →

Two Men In Cameroon Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For Being “Percieved” As Gay

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Two men in Cameroon were sentenced to five years jail-time for the suspicion of being gay and International gay rights groups are in an uproar.

Coming just one week after Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé was sentenced to 3 years prison for sending a text message to another man which said: ‘I’m very much in love with you’.  Franky Djome and Jonas Singa Kumie received a five-year prison sentence for being ‘perceived’ as gay , the highest possible sentence by a Cameroon judge because their vocabulary was “feminine”, because they drank a beverage that’s perceived to be something gay men drink, and because the clothes they were wearing were not masculine enough’,

Andre Banks, Executive Director of AllOut.org said: ‘“The cases of Franky, Jonas, and Roger are not isolated incidents — these are systematic violations of the most basic human rights.

Homosexual activity both male and female is illegal in Cameroon, under Section 347, with a penalty of five years in prison and a fine.

In 2011 alone, over a dozen men were arrested under Section 347, solely on the suspicion of being gay.