Kato was assassinated at his home in January 26, 2011, shortly after winning a lawsuit against a magazine which had published his name and photograph identifying him as gay and calling for him to be executed.

[5] Born to the Kisule clan in its ancestral village of Nakawala, Namataba Town Council, Mukono District, he received the name "Kato" because he was the younger of twins.

He continued to maintain contact with pro-LGBT activists outside the country, with LGEP executive director Phumzile S. Mtetwa later citing an encounter with Kato at the 1999 ILGA World Conference.

Bahati then made a "tirade against homosexuality" to the conference, resulting in massive applause and Martin Ssempa, an evangelical Christian cleric, pounding his fist on the table in agreement.

[9] By 2010, Kato had quit his job as a school teacher to focus on his work with SMUG in light of the events surrounding the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

[10] Kato was among the 100 people whose names and photographs were published in October 2010 by the Ugandan tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone in an article which called for their execution as homosexuals.

Kato and two other SMUG members who were also listed in the article – Kasha Nabagesera and Pepe Julian Onziema – sued the newspaper to force it to stop publishing the names and pictures of people it believed to be gay or lesbian.

[14] On 26 January 2011, at around 2:00 PM EAT (11:00 UTC), after talking on the phone with SMUG member Julian Pepe Onziema a few hours before, Kato was assaulted in his home in Bukusa, Mukono Town,[15] by a man who hit him twice in the head with a hammer.

[11] James Nsaba Buturo, the Ugandan Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, is on record as having declared that "Homosexuals can forget about human rights".

[19] The Ugandan Ambassador later reiterated this version of events in a letter to the European Parliament, stating that Kato had earlier paid for "his prostitute" to be released from prison, but had then been attacked by him for refusing to pay for sex.

Present at the funeral were family, friends and co-activists, many of whom wore t-shirts bearing his photo in front, the Portuguese "la [sic] luta continua" in the back and having rainbow flag colours inscribed onto the sleeves.

[22] In place of the preacher who left the scene after the fighting, excommunicated Church of Uganda bishop Christopher Senyonjo officiated at Kato's burial in the presence of friends and cameras.

"[30] For his newspaper's alleged role in the murder, Rolling Stone editor Giles Muhame stated "When we called for hanging of gay people, we meant ... after they have gone through the legal process ...

"[32] In Spring 2011, Boston's American Repertory Theater and System of a Down's Serj Tankian dedicated their production of Prometheus Bound to Kato and seven other activists, stating in program notes that "by singing the story of Prometheus, the God who defied the tyrant Zeus by giving the human race both fire and art, this production hopes to give a voice to those currently being silenced or endangered by modern-day oppressors".

Participant organisations include Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Herbert Smith LLP, and ILGA-Europe.