Kenyan Civil Society welcomes Move by Methodist Church to Allow Same Sex Marriages

The Church’s announcement came when the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersexual and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community just finished celebrating pride-month. Pride month is a yearly promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of LGBTQIA+ people as a social group marked every year in June. Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health Executive Director Jedidah Maina commended the Methodist church for setting the trend for their peers in Kenya. She further termed the move as a right step towards ensuring everyone enjoys their human rights, “Religious institutions have the power to use their platform and following to champion for humanity without judgement,” she said. We are hopeful that this will set the trend for more religious leaders and institutions in Kenya to support the full enjoyment of human rights by the LGBTQIA+ community”, she added. Deputy Director of the Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network Nerima Were lauded the announcement as timely. The announcement came when the LGBTQIA+ community is awaiting a court of appeal decision in the decriminalization of same-sex relations case commonly referred to as #Repeal 162.