This last Saturday (21st November), the Daily Nation newspaper wrote a story of a cleric who was kicked out of the Anglican Church in Kenya because of his closeness to the gay community in Nairobi.
The cleric has now formed his own church that shepherds 29 gay people. He runs a ministry called the Other Sheep that ministers to the needs of the gay people. He is also affiliated to an international organization that aims to meet the needs of gays.
Yesterday in the Sunday Nation, the Kenya Human Rights Commission put up an advertisement which supports the rights of gays. Kenya is currently writing a new constitution, the draft of which does not recognize same sex relationships. The commission’s position is that the draft needs to recognize the rights of these people.
The advertisement says “being lesbian, gay or bisexual is simply the sexual orientation of some Kenyans”. It goes further to say that this is a human rights issue. Some people have even equated the issue of gay right to the issue of racialism in some socities. But the questions is, can these two issues really be placed on the same pedestal? To be or not to be white, black or yellow one has no choice about, just like being a man or a woman. You are born black or white or yellow, or a man or a woman and there is nothing you can do about that.
But I differ with these supporters of the gay rights when they say that you do not have a choice as to your sexual orientation. Being born male or female naturally tells you what your sexual preference and behaviour needs to be. You have no choice. If lower animals like dogs and cats know naturally who to engage in sex with, why should human beings with a higher sense of knowledge and understanding pretend otherwise?
The cleric who ministers to these guys in a church in Imara Daima in Nairobi says that the church is composed of graduates and other middle class people in the society. The media has also informed us that there are many prominent people in the Kenyan society who frequent gay clubs. But I am surprised that none of them has ever come out in the open to declare that they are gay. Why are they living their lives in the underground? The answer is simple; it is a guilt conscience that is driving them underground. Nobody has accused them or told them that they are wrong. It simply their conscience that is telling them that what they are doing is not the right thing. If they were doing the right thing, they should be proud of themselves.
It is for the same reason that drug peddlers and paedophiles will not rise on a podium and announce to the whole world what they are doing. They know without anybody telling them that whatever they are engaged in goes against the norms of society.
I am glad that the cleric in question confesses that he is not gay. I wish the human rights crusaders who wrote in support of the gays could also stand up and tells what their sexual orientation is. This would help us to know whether their defense of gay rights is objective or subjective. As of now, we are still wondering whether they were speaking for the real gay people or they were speaking for themselves (as those directly affected). Makau Mutua, Kaari Murungi, Tade Aina, Mumina Konso, Davinda Lamba, Mwambi Mwasaru, Karuti Kanyinga and John Githongo, please tell us who you are! It is necessary because some in that group have been accused, either wrongly or rightly, to be gay. We need to know.
The human rights group accuses the media “supported by some conservative religious organizations” of being behind the campaign to demonise the gays. I think that the media is only reporting what is happening and what people are saying and needs not be accused of anything.
As for the church being conservative, there is nothing wrong with being conservative or even primitive. This simply means a preservation of that which was there at the very beginning. Therefore, the church is only trying to stick to that which has been passed down to them over the years by the church fathers. It is simply the original word of God as it was at the beginning.
I do not support the killing or even harassing of those who are gay. But I would wish for their priest to be true to the Bible that he professes to believe in. Romans 1: 26-27 and Leviticus 18: 22 and 20: 13 are very clear about God’s thinking on lesbianism and homosexuality. Let him just learn to speak the truth with love, what is called ‘tough love’, and let his church members know that what they are doing is against God’s word but God still loves them.
Yes, we need to be tolerant and patient. Yes, we need to accept that we have gays in our midst. But no, we cannot say that gayism is the natural way of relating sexually. It is an unnatural act that needs to be called just that. Where would the human race be today if the first creation, Adam, refused to sleep with Eve and went about looking for a man to satisfy his sexual desires? We would not be around. That would have been unnatural then. And it still is.
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