Anti-gay rights nude protest called off
A much-hyped protest where 5,000 people were to march naked in Nairobi to oppose US President Barack Obama’s support for gay rights has been called off.
A political party that had planned the demonstration said on Wednesday that the march was “postponed suddenly” at the request of the National Security Committee.
In a press statement, the Republican Liberty Party (RLP) said the cancellation was also because of “the executive’s assurance that same-sex marriage and its related practices are not part of President Barack Obama’s agenda in Kenya and Africa”.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
RLP, which says it has a strong belief that same-sex marriages are not a human right, said it will push for an amendment of the Constitution “to make it strong as per the African family values.”
Party leader Vincent Kidaha said the push will be launched when they hold a stakeholders’ meeting at an undisclosed date in Nairobi “which will include political parties, civil society organisations, religious, government official and African Union representatives to draft a Bill to amend some sections of Article 45 of the Kenyan Constitution”.
On July 14, the party said 4,000 men and 1,000 women in its ranks would launch a two-day protest.
The demonstrators were to gather at Uhuru Park’s Freedom Corner and march naked in Nairobi for Mr Obama “to see and understand the difference between a man and a woman”.
ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL
Last August, RLP took to Parliament the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in which seeks to “prohibit and penalise homosexual behaviour and related practices in Kenya as they constitute a threat to the traditional family”.
The Bill says anyone who is guilty of sodomy or homosexuality should be jailed for life and if they are of foreign origin, “the sentence shall be death by stoning in public”.
It also recommends public stoning for a person who engages in homosexuality while they are HIV-positive or engages in a homosexual act with a disabled person.
Mr Kidaha says the RLP was registered in 1994 and it has 1.5 million members though it did not field a presidential candidate in the General Election of March 4, 2013.