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Kenyan bishop warns Obama against pro-gay policy

The Kenyan government remains anti-gay in its policies.

By Ed Adamczyk
Kenya's Bishop Mark Kariuki. Photo courtesy of evangelical Alliance of Kenya.
Kenya's Bishop Mark Kariuki. Photo courtesy of evangelical Alliance of Kenya.

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 6 (UPI) -- Anti-gay activists in Nairobi, Kenya, warned U.S. President Barack Obama Monday against advocating tolerance for homosexuality when he visits Kenya in August.

At a demonstration led by Bishop Mark Kariuki, chairman of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, marchers chanted, "We want Obama, we want Michele, and we want a child. We do not want Obama and Obama, we do not want Michele and Michele. We want Obama and Michele and we want a child."

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Kariuki stressed his group favored family values, adding support for homosexuality is "an attack on the family. Most of the issues that are going on today that have to do with population control are issues that are against the family. Homosexuality, condoms to young children in school, in Genesis 1: 26, 27 and 28, God said that we should be fruitful and multiply."

"So when Obama comes, we are asking him to respect the morals of Kenyans, to respect the faith of Kenyans, he is coming for a commercial visit, let him talk about the conference but he should not talk about gayness because he is a world leader and our young people will start thinking that is a way of life."

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Kariuki's Biblical citations refer to God's making of man and woman "in his own image."

The demonstration occurred a day after Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto dismissed any possibility the administration would legalize gay rights, and suggested gay people in Kenya leave to found their own country.

Gay support networks in Kenya note blackmail and extortion of gay people is common, and homosexuality remains unaccepted. Fourteen years imprisonment is a common sentence for those convicted of "acts of gross indecency." Secretly-installed video cameras provide evidence that "they tell you they can send to your wife, they can send it to your employer if you are not going to pay 300,000 Kenyan shillings ($3,200)," said Eric Gitari of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission of Kenya.

Prosecution of blackmailers is very rare in Kenya.

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