Scuffles broke out between locals and friends of a murdered Ugandan gay activist at his funeral today, after the pastor conducting the service berated gay people and villagers refused to bury the coffin.
David Kato was beaten to death with a hammer on Wednesday, police said.
Last October, his photo was printed on the cover of a newspaper that called for gays to be executed under a headline that read: 'Hang them'.
Ugandan police say preliminary investigations point to Mr Kato being killed during a robbery, but human rights activists suspect his killing was linked to his sexuality.
The murder has sparked worldwide condemnation. US President Barack Obama issued a statement, which was read out at the funeral, calling Kato a 'powerful advocate for fairness and freedom'.
The funeral was attended by about 300 people, including about 100 members of the country's gay community.
During the service, the pastor lashed out at homosexuality, provoking a strong reaction from Kato's friends.
'The world has gone crazy,' the pastor told the congregation through a microphone.
'People are turning away from the scriptures. They should turn back; they should abandon what they are doing. You cannot start admiring a fellow man.'
Gay activists, wearing T-shirts featuring Kato's face with sleeves coloured with the gay pride flag, then stormed the pulpit and grabbed the microphone.
'It is ungodly,' the pastor shouted, before being blocked from sight. 'Only God can judge us.'
An unidentified female activist then began to shout from the pulpit.
'Who are you to judge others?' she shouted. 'We have not come to fight. You are not the judge of us. As long as he's gone to God his creator, who are we to judge Kato?'
Locals intervened on the side of the pastor and scuffles broke out before he was taken away to Mr Kato's father's house to calm the situation.
Villagers then refused to bury the body, at which point a group of Mr Kato's friends carried his coffin to the grave and buried it themselves.
Uganda's anti-gay movement first made international headlines in October 2009 when a bill was tabled in the country's parliament proposing the death penalty for homosexuals who are 'repeat offenders'.
The bill was quietly postponed under international pressure, but rights groups fear it may pass after a presidential election next month that President Yoweri Museveni is expected to win.
'I'm very upset,' Julian Pepe, gay rights activist and a friend of Mr Kato's who attended the funeral, told Reuters.
'After we had read statements from everybody, including Obama, after all the nice things friends said about David, that this man could stand up and throw dirt at someone who should be resting in peace. It's just disgusting.'
