Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani flashed a beaming smile in a cringeworthy photo with a top Ugandan official who pushed harsh anti-LGBT policies — that included life imprisonment for gay people.
Mamdani met with Rebecca Kadaga in July during a break from the campaign trail — after winning the Democratic primary — that included a lavish celebration of his recent nuptials at a secluded Ugandan compound owned by his family.
“Delighted to meet with Zohran Mamdhani (sic), incoming Mayor of New York City. Good luck in the next phase of elections,” Kadaga said in a caption of a photo of her with a grinning Mamdani.
“Here with Zohran Mamdhani and Prof Mamdhani as Zohran returns to New York after his traditional wedding in Kampala,” she gushed in another photo of her, Mamdani and his father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani.
The Mamdani campaign was left scrambling Sunday as photos of the meeting re-emerged, as a spokesperson claimed the democratic socialist candidate was “unaware” of Kadaga’s widely reported status as an anti-gay crusader.
In 2012, then-Speaker Kadaga infamously said she was passing a draconian law imposing severe penalties against practicing homosexuals as a “Christmas gift” for supporters of the measure.
“Ugandans want that law as a Christmas gift. They have asked for it and we’ll give them that gift,” Kadaga said then.
Hellbound and Down 