We’re at crossroads on sticky issue of homosexuality

Benefit of doubt is one of the things I try to extend rather liberally when dealing with fellow human beings – because there is always another perspective that I may not be privy to. And yet, when actions and activities seem to follow a particular pattern or trend, it becomes extremely difficult to extend such a benefit. This is the dilemma I found myself in as I read the individual Judges positions on the recent LGBTQ ruling by a five-judge bench of the Court of Appeal. Certain Judges seemed to have followed a rather predictable path. It therefore became very difficult to believe that these learned Judges had simply reviewed the case before them, considered the facts of the matter, taken into account its social context, and arrived at a purely objective judgement based on the prevailing laws of the land.

In the March 22 judgement, the Court of Appeal, by a 3-2 majority, upheld a 2015 High Court ruling that allowed the petition of Eric Gitari to register an LGBTQ organisation with the NGO-Coordination Board. What is so unfortunate about this series of rulings is not so much the concession it gives to the gay movement in the nation, but rather the negative impact it portends on the moral values of the Kenyan people.