Kenya’s First Lady Rachel Ruto has declared national prayers against homosexuality in the country, declaring the practice as a threat to the institution of the family.
“We want to strengthen the family institution where we have a father, a mother and children. LGBTQ is forbidden even in the Bible and the African culture. Let us hold on to family values,” she said on Sunday during a church service in Meru county.
Before this, the First Lady had already created a Faith Diplomacy Office which, she says, will be spreading a praying culture across the country.
She said the Faith Diplomacy Office will take prayers to the rest of the country and that a programme has been crafted “to ensure family values are protected.”
“I would like us to pray on matters of family. The family has become an institution that has been very much attacked…” local media quoted the first lady in a report.
She urged Kenyans to put more focus on matters of family, as the LGBTQ debate is threatening the family structure.
The debate surrounding LGBT rights and acceptance has been ongoing in the country for quite some time now, with supporters and opponents voicing their opinions on the matter.
“We should not even try to talk about LGTBQ. This is a conversation we should not even have in our country because accepting it is like throwing our morals into the dustbin,” the first lady said on Sunday.
Homosexuality and other categories in the LGBTQ remains criminalised in Kenya with the government refusing to allow several LGBTQ interest and advocacy groups to register in the country.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that refusal to allow the LGBT community to register lobby groups in Kenya would breach their right to association, as provided in the Kenyan constitution.
