Ugandan Anti-Gay Page Outing Citizens Removed By Facebook

A controversial Facebook page aimed at outing gay Ugandans has been removed, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has confirmed.

The page, titled "Kampala Exposed: Facts and Rumors," had originally been created to "expose the rot in society," according to its organizers, Towleroad reported.

A change.org petition asking Facebook to remove the page drew over 700 signatures. "This highly trafficked page is attempting to incite mob violence, firing, eviction and annihilation of named people in Uganda who are perceived to be gay -- or rumored to be gay, or otherwise have angered the woman behind it in some personal way -- by 'exposing' them online," members of LGBT organization Freedom and Roam Uganda, who started the petition, wrote.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have been a matter of intense debate in Uganda in recent months. In November, the Associated Press reported that a heavily-criticized anti-gay bill, which originally mandated death for some gay acts, was expected to pass by the end of the year in a move that some lawmakers described as "a Christmas gift."

Though homosexuality is criminalized by Uganda's penal code, local LGBT rights advocates said international debate over the so-called "kill the gays" bill had actually helped their fight for equality by putting a taboo subject on the national agenda.

"I know people in Uganda who are going to suffer a lot of intimidation, blackmail and extortion, people who could be killed if this legislation is passed," Ugandan LGBT activist Frank Mugisha told HuffPost Gay Voices Editor at Large Michelangelo Signorile last month.