Apologize Over Gay, Lesbians Remarks, Human Rights Group to DP Ruto

Commission executive director Atsango Chesoni has said Ruto’s remarks during a church service at Kasarani in Nairobi are homophobic and may risk lives of gays in the country.

While lauding the High Court decision allowing gays and lesbians to form and register a union, Chesoni added all Kenyans are equal in law despite their sexual orientation and also faulted formation of an anti-gay caucus in parliament.

KHRC and other lobby groups are now demanding that the NGO coordination board respects the High Court ruling and register the organization for gays.

They also want the government to guarantee their safety and dignity. 

Three High Court judges ordered a government agency to register a human rights group representing the country's gay people.

The Kenyan constitution recognizes and protects the rights of minorities, the three judges of the High Court said in their ruling.

The Non-Governmental Organization Co-ordination Board had refused to register the rights group on religious and moral grounds.

The Attorney General, the NGO Board and religious groups had opposed the registration of the gay association but the judges said the Kenyan Constitution does not allow limitation of rights on moral or religious grounds.

"In Kenya, the Constitution is supreme," stated the ruling of Judges Isaac Lenaola, Mumbi Ngugi and George Odunga. The judges said the state "cannot rely on religious texts or its views of what the moral and religious convictions of Kenyans are to justify the limitation of a right."

By Maureen Murimi