The year 2009 was a turning point in Uganda. Then U.S. evangelicals toured the country preaching that homosexuals were predators, the gay movement was evil and homosexuality contributed to the break down of families. Shortly after these Americans visited, egged on in part by Ugandan evangelical Stephen Langa, the government drafted an anti-gay bill that went so far as to call that gays be put to death. After international outcry, government officials relented, saying they would scrap the bill, but it’s still on the table and could be passed as soon as February. The bill, combined with the visit by the evangelicals, ushered in a wave of homophobia that’s now being cited in the death of gay activist David Kato, who was bludgeoned to death with a hammer on Jan. 26.

Now that a gay man has been murdered, the evangelicals who visited Uganda in 2009 are backpedaling—saying that they didn’t intend for anyone to die or for Ugandan gays to face persecution. But preaching that gays are predators in need of curing makes gays targets. In addition, some evangelicals who preached against homosexuality in Uganda have not only neglected to offer condolences for Kato’s death, they have urged the public to refrain from viewing it as a hate crime. Although no arrest has been made in Kato’s murder and the motive is unclear, the fact that Kato received several death threats before his murder and had his photo placed in a Ugandan newspaper next to a headline urging readers to hang him, can’t be ignored. The evangelicals responsible for spreading homophobia in Uganda need to be held accountable. Demand that they condemn Kato’s murder and apologize for creating a climate of hostility for homosexuals in Uganda.