Church faults court ruling in favour of gays
What you need to know:
- National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Executive Director Eric Gitari had gone to court praying to be allowed to register a non-governmental organization to protect the rights of the gay community.
- With the threat posed to the continuity of the family unit, he said, the government will have few subjects, and less populated countries risk being colonized by over populous ones.
- Should gays and lesbians come together as directed by the court, Mr Kitonga said that everyone will be affected in a way, including being forced to accommodate persons with alternative sexual orientations.
The Redeemed Gospel Church (RGC) has criticised the High Court for ruling in favour of same-sex marriages and called upon leaders to speak against “this evil and abominable practise.”
On Monday, the court ordered the NGO Coordination Board to register a gay rights group that it had blacklisted earlier on moral and religious grounds.
National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Executive Director Eric Gitari had gone to court praying to be allowed to register a non-governmental organization to protect the rights of the gay community.
But speaking in Nairobi on Thursday, RGC head Archbishop Arthur Kitonga faulted the judiciary for supporting the gay community.
He said that by making the pro-gay ruling the court was setting a dangerous precedence that could see the country run out of citizens.
“We are totally opposed to any attempt to have same-sex marriages legalised in this country,” he told his audience that included leaders and delegates from grassroots RGC churches.
He said that by ruling in favor of same-sex marriages, the court went against the cultural values and beliefs that the nation treasures.
In addition, the RGC founder said that the court decision sanctioned homosexuality a behaviour that “stops the perpetuation of the family.”
With the threat posed to the continuity of the family unit, he said, the government will have few subjects, and less populated countries risk being colonized by over populous ones.
In making the ruling on Monday, Judges Isaac Lenaola, Mumbi Ngugi and George Odunga said: “In Kenya, the Constitution is supreme."
But archbishop Kitonga said that by making the ruling, the judges misread the supreme law.
“Every society must have limits of the exercise of certain freedoms especially when those freedoms begin to restrict the freedom of others,” he said.
A similar argument against the court decision was advanced by the Anglican Church of Kenya on Wednesday.
Should gays and lesbians come together as directed by the court, Mr Kitonga said that everyone will be affected in a way, including being forced to accommodate persons with alternative sexual orientations.
It is against this background that the church head called upon all leaders - including President Uhuru Kenyatta - to unite and speak against homosexuality.
