Katherine Roubos is a college student from Minnesota who had a summer internship with a newspaper in Africa. Here's how the Washington Post described what happened after she wrote a story about gay rights --hundreds of people rallied and demanded she be deported:
Tuesday's demonstration was the latest in a series of showdowns between religious conservatives and a small, but growing gay rights movement across the continent.
The protesters gathered at a Kampala sports ground holding banners with anti-gay messages and posters demanding the deportation of 22-year-old Katherine Roubos.
Roubos, from Minnetonka, Minn., was assigned to cover gay issues in Uganda as part of a three-month internship with the Daily Monitor newspaper, which is owned by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims. The Ismailis are a part of the Shiite community.
Katherine's hometown paper in Minnesota caught up with her by phone:
Reached in Kampala on Thursday, Roubos, who was born and raised in Minnetonka and graduated from Minnetonka High School, said the hubbub continues.
"There have been no direct personal threats," she said. "But it's been pretty stressful just trying to evaluate my safety situation. I've been in touch with the U.S. Embassy, so that's been helpful. I'm taking common-sense precautions. I don't feel entirely safe, but I don't feel I'm in imminent danger."
Roubos will return to the United States next month to finish her last semester at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. She said calls for her deportation have even reached the nation's parliament.
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