PRIME MINISTER ODINGA OF KENYA: ¨Lies, propaganda and fear-mongering¨ against ¨Gays¨ was/is instigated by opponents of the new constitution*

¨A story that appeared early today in Capital FM’s online edition and later picked by the Daily Nation late Sunday evening to the effect that Prime Minister Raila Odinga ordered arrest of gay couples was incorrect and widely missed the core message of the Prime Minister’s remarks earlier that day.

The Prime Minister made references to gay marriages in the context of what he called “lies, propaganda and fear-mongering” that opponents of the then draft constitution engaged in during the referendum campaigns.

The PM said one of the lies was that the draft legalized same sex marriages. The other was that it would force the government to build abortion wards in all hospitals because it legalized abortion.

The Prime Minister went ahead to explain that time has proved these were lies. In regard to gay marriages, the PM added a rider that even if it had been legal, Kenyans were likely to continue the established trend of marrying the opposite sex. After all, he said, census data released early this year indicated there were more women than men and there would be little reason for Kenyans to turn to same sex marriages. This rider is what the media picked and twisted to imply order of arrest. Prime Minister Odinga made no such orders and has no intentions of making any such orders.¨

DENNIS ONYANGO
COMMUNICATION SECRETARY,
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

*The Anglican Church of Kenya opposed the new constitution (which was approved and made law).

 Anglican bishops led by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala (seated,2nd left) announced their ‘No’ campaign on the proposed New Constitution law at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi

Nairobi — Church leaders, just like politicians, have lost the trust of Kenyans, a new survey has said.  HERE

· Thanks to Prime Minister Raila Odinga,  Kenya
· Thanks to Dennis Onyango
· Thanks to Gay Kenya
· Thanks to Denis Nzioka

FROM KENYA WITH LOVE: ¨For some time I closed myself from love, from the truth, from companionship¨

Denis Nzioka, ¨I am a good lover ¨

¨Thing is I was afraid of loving. No, I was afraid of getting hurt. I was afraid of giving my heart to someone and be hurt in the end. Yes, there were to be good and bad times, but my fear was always that I would be so vulnerable to the point I would not recover from heartbreak. I am a good lover. I give my all to that special someone who I call my lover, partner and friend. I want them to be there for me always and for me to know I can count on them. They must be understanding and generous, easy to chat with and really special.

Many times, I always assumed the worst. I always thought to myself that the person I am with may cheat on me or lie to me or sleep around and this really scared me. I even went to the point of saying that there is no love between two gay men (or women for that matter!) Most of the relationships I saw in my friends were just sham, shallow and cheap. Many people just woke up and decide I am in love with so and so and two days later, they are with another. The level of infidelity was so high and so blatant that I just thought to myself, if this is the way things are, I am out..

So, where am I now? For one, I am indeed in love. And not just in love, but head over heels! But question is, who would have thought Denis Nzioka would settle or even fall in love? Today, I meet so many people and when I tell them I am in love, they either laugh or look at me with that –whatcha-talking-about? look. Yes, I know. I am the last person on earth you would expect to say they are in love, or in a relationship or monogamous. But it is so true!

But all that has changed now. I am in love and in love with only one person. He is my lover, partner, friend and confidante. He is the person who has made Denis Nzioka change from a cold, heartless monster to a love-forlorn prince who has the whole world at his feet. He is the one who has assured me that it is okay to be afraid but that I need not worry. He has shown me how to love and love completely and not be afraid of getting hurt because he will not.

He has changed me to be a better person. He has shown me how to love. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. So, to you out there, if Denis Nzioka can do it, so can you. You do not have to be afraid. It is alright to love; it is alright to give all...¨  being completely in love in Kenya, HERE

OP-ED FROM DENIS NZIOKA:  Kenyan Gay & Trans Martyrs HERE

· Thanks to Denis Nzioka, Kenya
· Thanks to African Activist
· Thanks to David Kuria, Kenya
· Thanks to ¨I Love My Boo¨

 Amplifying Africa's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Voices

LGBTI ANGLICANS/OTHERS IN NAIROBI: ¨We dream of a new society that can include our brothers and sisters from Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and probably the whole of Africa...¨

Nairobi Kenya, a LGBTI community that lives above discrimination and dreams

We have become a society within a society, and one that dreams big - one that has its own culture,

defines its own gender roles, spirituality, and religion. We have organisations that work in solidarity, voluntarism, and that dream our revolution will one day yield the fruits of gay games and parades similar to the ones we see on TV in South Africa. We dream of a new society that can include our brothers and sisters from Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and probably the whole of Africa, if they are interested.

In our society, we know there are things like human rights, and we know that ours are being grossly violated; but we still manage to live our lives to the fullest. Our activists and volunteers dedicate their lives to fighting ignorance, hate-motivated violence, and inequality by seeking recognition before the law, empowerment, and positive advocacy.

Our happiness comes from the fact that we are being ourselves and not living a lie. We create our own safe spaces, we have queer parties, and we establish queer-friendly joints where we get to relieve our stress, be rowdy, free our minds, and be treated as normal beings. We get to dress as drag-queens and kings, dancing in our own sensual way while we happily watch ‘straight’ people dance to Lady Gaga’s songs, and hum Rihanna’s ‘Te Amo’ without reasoning the meaning behind it. Then we go home to be male-wives and female-husbands, partaking of our roles wholeheartedly, without caring what the other society thinks of us.

That is our outside. Inwardly, being queer in Nairobi means you get to be unique in a different way. Our lives, our livelihoods, and problems are different. From the sub-standard medical treatment we receive when we disclose our sexuality to practitioners, to the way law enforcement treats us, such that unions within the queer community are not entitled to basic rights such as National Social Security Funds and rights to a founded family.  read it all, by Blessol, HERE

· Thanks to African Activist, sidebar
· Thanks to Amplifying Africa's LGBTI Voices
· Thanks to Blessol, ¨Queer in Nairobi with Dreams for the Future¨
· Thanks to David Kuria, Senate Candidate, Kenya

ATTENTION ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP WABUKALA/KENYA:  

LGBTI Kenyans don´t wish to ¨live a lie¨

Introducing LGBTI Activist and Senate Candidate David Kuria 

David Kuria, LGBTI Leader, ¨hopes by running for the Senate to inspire other ´marginalized´ to reach out for their potential..¨ read it all, David Kuria candidate for the Senate of Kenya, HERE

ARCHBISHOP WABUKALA/KENYA: David Kuria, LGBTI Leader, ¨hopes by running for the Senate to inspire other ´marginalized´ to reach out for their potential..¨



David Kuria, the director of GALCK, the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, is standing for the Kenyan Senate.

 ¨...all my life has been about service and in the past have done so in different capacities, including working in poverty alleviation programs. In politics today we have a few persons who are genuinely committed to public service, but on the whole a majority are just interested in either acquisition of wealth or for the most part protecting their wealth through government machinery. I hope to increase that small number genuinely engaged with solving the people's problems - which are many as you have read from my website HERE

Working toward the inclusion of  ALL the marginalized and excluded in Kenyan Society

¨...as a person who has known marginalization and exclusion all my life, I am hoping to use my experiences while in the position of public service to reach out and represent for the interests of those who are marginalized and excluded - some of them are people with mental and physical disabilities...¨

¨some of the marginalized are people with mental and physical disabilities...¨

¨I am reliably told also that our pschiatric hospitals can treat most of the people we ignore in the market places. Since this is a manageable condition I hope to focus on it immediately for people to see what change can come about to people's lives once we drop our shaded glasses of discrimination and stigma. Poverty among the youth is also endemic, yet most people in government because they are rich think of the youth as being lazy and irresponsible, especially when they engage in illicit alcohol, a problem that is endemic in the region I seek to represent. Yet I understand what they go through and will give it a public and national voice...

¨...I hope by running for this position I shall inspire all people to aspire to reach out to their dreams and potential irrespective of what their personal circumstances are. I hope for those who are LGBTI, who have different forms of disabilities, those whose low esteem continually voices a discouragment voice in their minds, who have been excluded because they are poor or come from a small and marginalized tribe. They can aspire to do that which everyone else thinks is impossible for them because of their personal conditions. Indeed I have characterised this candidature as a collective one for all who have been excluded and discriminated from the mainstream - and if you look critically, it is really everybody at one time or another...¨

Excluding/anti-LGBTI Anglican Archbishop Wabukala of Kenya

Attention: Anglican Archbishop Wabukala of KENYA-- Christians ¨losing trust¨ in religious leaders and politicians in Kenya results show three in every 10 Catholics claim not to trust church leaders at all, with the figure being higher among Protestants, at 40 per cent. HERE

¨...I cannot think of a bigger social stigma issue and one that automatically qualifies one for social exclusion in Kenya than being a member of the LGBTI community, and if I can do it so can everybody else.¨ HERE

Nairobi — Anglican Church leaders, just like politicians, have lost the trust of Kenyans, a new survey has said.

·Anglican bishops led by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala (seated,2nd left) announced their ‘No’ campaign on the proposed law at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi, Thursday.
·According to the Synovate post-referendum poll, only 19 per cent of those interviewed said they fully trusted Church leaders, compared to 17 per cent who said they fully trusted politicians.
·And it gets worse -- 38 per cent said they don't trust Church leaders at all, a bigger number than the 22 per cent who said they don't trust politicians at all. HERE

· Thanks to All Africa, sidebar
· Thanks to Paul Canning
· Thanks to Synovate Polls, Nairobi
· Thanks to Madikazemi Homepage, Kenya
· Thanks to Kuria for Senator, Kenya
· Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar
· Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing