Amend Kenya’s Constitution to Fortify “religious values on family”: Bishops on LGBTQ+

The Supreme Court ruling of February 24, Catholic Bishops in Kenya say, “affects the sacred values of marriage and family as enshrined in the Constitution.”

“We, therefore, call for a constitutional amendment to strengthen our cultural and religious values on marriage and family which are to be protected by the supreme law of the land,” they say in their April 20 statement after their Plenary Assembly at Roussel House, Donum Dei in Karen, Nairobi.

In their March 10 statement, KCCB members denounced the Kenyan Supreme Court ruling as destructive to life and the family as it “sets the platform for activism and pressure to further recognize homosexuality actions and same-sex unions as acceptable and further infiltrate our processes of formation in our institutions.” 

“We fault the determination of the Supreme Court of Kenya and declare it as an effort towards the promotion of LGBTQ+ ideology which seeks to destroy life,” Catholic Bishops in Kenya said about the ruling that followed a 10-year legal battle that started when Eric Gitari, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), challenged the head of Kenya’s NGO board refusal to permit the registration of an association under a name containing the words gay or lesbian.

“This ideology (LGBTQ+) is an attempt to undermine the family and cultural values which are rooted in the very nature of humankind. This ideology is an attack on our faith systems. It also undermines the dignity of life which is at the core of our beliefs as a nation,” they said. 

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KCCB members said they found the Supreme Court ruling “unconstitutional, unwelcome, and should be withdrawn”, and explained that the ruling “contradicts the basic values of the people of Kenya as enshrined in the Constitution.”

In their February 24 ruling favoring the formation of and membership to LGBTQ+ entities, three judges in the five-judge bench argued, in reference to proponents of such entities, that “despite gayism being illegal (in Kenya), they have a right of association.”

Two of the five Judges, Justices Mohamed Ibrahim and William Ouko put in writing dissenting opinions against the majority decision delivered by Justices Philomena Mwilu, Smokin Wanjala, and Njoki Ndung’u.

Same sex acts are illegal under the law of Kenya; the Penal Code suggests a penalty of 14 years imprisonment to 21 years.

Catholic Bishops in Kenya said that the Supreme Court ruling paves the way for the fostering of homosexuality in the East African nation. 

“Fundamentally, registration of any association is based on what the association promotes. The aim of the LGBTQ+ association is the promotion of homosexual actions and normalizing homosexual and same-sex unions,” they said in their March 10 statement.

KCCB members said that the ruling was “tantamount to normalization of unnatural unions; it is the approval of deviant behavior.”

They went on to condemn homosexual ideologies saying they are not only “intrinsically immoral” but they also go against the natural law.

“Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” KCCB members said, and added that the LGBTQ+ ideology is being pushed on the youth and poor members of society. 

“Many of these individuals are being recruited into the LGBTQ+ group with the promise of financial benefits,” Catholic Bishops in Kenya said, and added, “We are also aware that the impact of homosexuality is grave and has far reaching effects.”

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“With homosexuality and same-sex unions being introduced in our society, the continuity of humanity is put at risk by homosexual acts. Same-sex unions are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race,” they said in their March 10 statement in which they called on the government to safeguard and protect Kenyans from LGBTQ+ ideology.

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