In Africa, will massive US HIV/Aids funding start trickling to gay/MSM groups?

By Paul Canning

Revised guidance on HIV/Aids prevention from the US government have been welcomed by agencies - but changes will face strong anti-gay resistance.

The Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) has released new guidance for the massive US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a US$48 billion dollar programme started by George Bush.

The programme has come in for criticism for providing millions to church-run organisations promoting the  unscientific prevention strategy of abstinence alongside providing no funding for programmes which address the needs of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). In Uganda alone US$285 million was spent in 2009 on abstinence. PEPFAR has also had to operate under a Congressionally mandated pledge which prevents funding from going to organizations that assist sex workers.

The new guidance document shows strong leadership, said The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), in recognizing that human rights, legal barriers and homophobia must be addressed as part of an effective HIV response.

MSM in the global south are, on average, 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, with infection rates among MSM now surpassing 30% in countries like Jamaica and Thailand. More than half of MSM around the world are without access to life-saving services like HIV education, testing and treatment. MSM programmes, such as those who are members of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR) are generally funded by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria or other countries. However USAid is a funder for a new mobile phone service for MSM which has just been launched in South Africa.

Although MSM are considered by the National AIDS Control Councils or Commissions of such countries as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to be a "most at-risk population", because homosexual acts are illegal, there are no policies or services targeting HIV interventions towards them. In some countries, provision of services have been specifically ruled out by governments, whereas in others they are quietly supported as part of national HIV/Aids programmes.

MSMGF say that while the OGAC document is quite clear on its recommendations for essential interventions, the guidance leaves vague a number of elements that are crucial to the document’s success and is lacking in clear recommendations.

“If PEPFAR is serious about addressing barriers like stigma and criminalization, a clear set of steps must be offered for Country Missions to tackle these difficult challenges,” said Dr. George Ayala, MSMGF Executive Officer. “Any such strategy must include a plan to train front-line service providers and implementers about these issues.”

The document also focuses on “building the capacity” of local MSM organizations rather than explicitly recommending the use of PEPFAR funds to support them, it seems to give, say MSMGF, Country Missions the option to choose whether or not to initiate them and there is no way to hold them accountable and no plan to track MSM funding or program effectiveness.

"The United States government must make clear how it will ensure that MSM in PEPFAR countries get the services they need," say MSMGF.

"Many advocates around the world are concerned that a “quiet” release of the technical guidance sends the wrong message to country missions and implementers. With so much at stake, we cannot afford to leave implementation to chance. OGAC must issue a formal announcement to all PEPFAR stakeholders that this guidance has been released, and it must take clear and immediate steps to ensure that the guidance is implemented and resourced appropriately."

According to David Kuria, the spokesperson of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), over 33% of all new infections in Kenya are attributable to under-served sub-populations including MSM and sex workers.

In recent times, he adds, further evidence has emerged that corroborates what the GALCK had been insisting for a long time - that effective HIV programming for these populations has additional positive impact on the general population.

MSM who seek ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs which keep people living with HIV/Aids alive), says Kuria, are constantly arrested, detained and as a consequence have their treatment interrupted. As well religious leaders have threatened what HIV/Aids services are provided to gay men.

Not only does this interruption effect the efficacy of their treatment but it also raises HIV drug resistant strains in the Kenyan society, says Kuria.

"Ignoring effective programming for these populations is an exercise in futility if the desired goal is a HIV free society. Moreover effective programming for these sub-populations increases the efficiency in the use of resources, because, a dollar spent on these population has flow-over effect to the general population," he said.

This point has begun to be made by respected African elders, such as former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and former Botswana President Festus Mugae.

• MSMGF has released a Toolkit for MSM-Led HIV and AIDS Advocacy

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Police disrupt Kenyan mourning for David Kato

Outside Ugandan Chancery

By Denis Nzioka

Gay Kenya members, human rights activists and LGBTI persons held a vigil at the Uganda High Commission’s Chancery in Riverside Drive amid tight watch and arrest threats from police officers called in by officials of the High Commission.

Members had first assembled at the Uganda High Commission Offices in Uganda House, Kenyatta Avenue to show solidarity with their Ugandan comrades after the killing of David Kato, a leading gay rights activist in Uganda. David Kato was killed after his photo appeared in a tabloid paper calling for his execution.

Gay Kenya’s Denis Nzioka and David Kuria, the organizers of the vigil, took a letter to the High Commission requesting permission to hand over the wreath and were told it was taken to the ‘right’ person. Half an hour later, some three uniformed Kenyan police officers came to the reception area and were lead inside the offices only to return a few minutes later and stood guard where the participants were seated.

Denis Nzioka reports that:

"One of the police officer took a call and I heard him saying over the phone that they (the police officers) were at the Uganda High Commission offices as they was a protest taking place and was asking if the (police) van had arrived. He was carrying in his hand the same letter we had given earlier."

Read more »

LGBTI Kenyans react to murder of Ugandan activist David Kato

Source: GALCK

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya is shocked and outraged at the news of the murder of David Kato, SMUG’s Advocacy and Litigation Officer. We join our Ugandan brothers and sisters in mourning this truly tragic attack on our community.

David had been an outspoken human rights defender who never shied from engaging the Ugandan society on the need of having all Ugandans including LGBTI Ugandans be treated as equal citizens under the law. This dastardly attack and murder of a LGBTI Human Rights defender is an attack on all of us and we support SMUG’s call for prompt and thorough investigations by the relevant authorities.

For those who do not believe that hate speech kills well here is the proof. Over the past few years, hate speech and action have been blowing into our region mainly led by American evangelical pastors. Together with hate filled pastors in the region a slow, poisonous and murderous environment has been created specifically targeting the regions LGBTI communities. We at GALCK denounce this movement and request all right minded people to condemn it and to work diligently to remove it from our midst.

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A new toolkit to empower LGBT global south activists

Image via Wikipedia

Source: African Activist

A new toolkit is available to empower activists to use the Yogyakarta Principles to advance international human rights standards on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. According to the press release from Yogyakarta Principles in Action:

Activists in regions around the world celebrated today the release of a new tool for LGBTI advocacy: the Activist's Guide to the Yogyakarta Principles.

The Yogyakarta Principles are a set of principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. They were developed in response to well documented patterns of abuse directed toward persons because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Today’s publication - the Activist’s Guide - is a toolkit, which provides an introduction to the Yogyakarta Principles, exploring how they can enhance the work of activists in advancing rights for LGBTI people around the globe. It presents several creative examples of ways in which LGBTI activists have already used the Yogyakarta Principles to make significant gains, and suggests strategies for further engagement with the Principles...

As the Activist’s Guide highlights, the Yogyakarta Principles have also been applied in South Africa to underline the need for police training and hate crimes protection in the face of continued violence, killings and so-called “curative” rape of lesbians. Recently, a group of gay and lesbian Kenyans, working together with the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, produced a publication highlighting the application of the Yogyakarta Principles in Kenyan society.

Activists at the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) recently adapted the Yogyakarta Principles for use in Kenya.

History made as gay man stands for Kenyan Senate

By Paul Canning

Kenya could become the second African country* to have an elected out gay politician. David Kuria, the director of GALCK, the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, is standing for the Kenyan Senate.

Kuria is already well-known to Kenyans from frequent TV appearances. His leadership has resulted in him being personally targeted by evangelicals using American funds in a nasty poster campaign.

He's standing in Kiambu, a mainly rural district to the north of Nairobi.

*(The first gay African politician is South Africa’s Ian Ollis.)

LAN: Why are you standing for the Senate?

Read more »

Gay rights in Africa: now for the good news

Source: The Guardian

By Paul Canning

If all you ever read about gay people in Africa is in the western media (including gay media), you would be forgiven for thinking it's one endless horror story.
This year, we've had the anti-gay riot in the Kenyan town of Mtwapa, the arrest and subsequent pardoning of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga in Malawi and, of course, the "gay executions" bill in Uganda.

Largely unnoticed amid all that has been the quickening development of gay communities and movements in many parts of Africa.

In Kenya, for instance, David Kuria – a gay man – is standing for the senate. If elected, he'll be the second openly gay politician in Africa (the first is South Africa's Ian Ollis). Kuria, who is director of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), is already well known to Kenyans from frequent TV appearances. His prominence has also resulted in him being targeted by American evangelicals.

Kuria's candidacy for the senate is the latest development in GALCK's "gradualist" strategy, which involves building alliances with civil society groups and talking with religious leaders. This showed its worth in the successful deflation of an anti-gay backlash following the February riot.

The strategy seems to be paying off. "We have to accept [gay] people the way they are and embrace them in the society," the Kenyan special programmes minister Esther Murugi told an HIV/Aids conference last month. Her words ignited a storm but, despite various Christian and Muslim leaders calling for her head, she has refused to resign. Defending her, justice minister Mutula Kilonzo called discrimination in HIV/Aids services a "gross violation of human rights".

Elsewhere – in Zambia and Malawi, for instance – governments are increasingly recognising that tackling HIV/Aids means recognising that gay people exist. The new visibility in Kenya was seen last month when gay people openly joined a march in Nairobi demanding improvements to the Kenyan health system. They were well received, says Kuria.

"Increasingly the movement is becoming mainstreamed as legitimate stakeholders in the civil society," he added. "It is not uncommon to hear people now talk on the issues of sexual minorities in the same sentence with other minorities – this coming from people who only a couple of years, even months ago would not have even listened to such issues."

Here in Britain, it is only relatively recently that we have moved from repression to acceptance, and it took 38 years from the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, through the Thatcher government's Section 28, to arrive at civil partnerships 38 years later. Africa, now, is going through the same process we went through. Increased visibility = increased awareness = increased repression = eventual acceptance?

In Uganda, civil society groups and prominent figures including Bishop Christopher Senyonjo have rallied to defend LGBT rights in the face of a barely disguised genocidal push. In July, the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, called for the repeal of sodomy laws. In Cameroon, gay leader Steave Nemande says media coverage of homosexuality is fast improving.

In South Africa two weeks ago a massive march in Soweto said no to the epidemic of "corrective rape" of lesbians. "Anti-gay mob violence remains a problem, but the post-apartheid ANC government has trailblazed," Peter Tatchell says of South Africa. He describes the country's legislative gains (which include gay marriage) as "a beacon for LGBT rights all across Africa".

Pan-African movements like the Coalition of African Lesbians and African Men for Sexual Health and Rights are growing, and now an East African network is under formation. Kuria says: "We have numerous listserves and increasingly we are meeting at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights."

Tatchell points out: "The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights – with its guarantees of universal equal treatment and non-discrimination – offers a legal framework for the securing of LGBT equality legislation."

Cary Alan Johnson of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission describes the progress of African LGBT movements as astounding:

"Movements are more professionally run, politically smarter, more accountable and transparent, and more diverse. In almost every country, there are emerging organisations and political spaces for queer women, transpeople, those who want to be political, those whose interests are more social. Community centres and safe spaces are emerging continent-wide.

"In the face of much adversity and homophobia, it's actually quite a heady moment."

Gay Kenyans demonstrate for improved health

By Denis Nzioka

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) was requested to participate in a march on September 28th from 8.30am at the Ministry of Health (Afya House) to Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Finance (Treasury) to push for increased funding for the health system and HIV and AIDS.

According to the World Health Organisation it is recommended that governments allocate at least 15% of their annual budgets to health. Kenya allocated only 7% in this financial year thus prompting the civil society and health service providers to demonstrate and push for greater funding.

Gay Kenya mobilised its staff and members and marched together. Carrying the Gay Kenya banner with the message 'Health For All Now: Access to health services for Kenyan Sexual Minorities NOW!' they marched, shouted and walked hand in hand with the rest to push for this important agenda.

Many other groups including University students, people with disabilities and other Human Rights networks were also in participation.

The greatest value for us is that we are increasingly gaining recognition as legitimate members of the civil society in Kenya.

The march could not have come at an appropriate time since September 27th each year is celebrated as the National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day; a day to not only bring attention to and promote understanding of the disproportionate burden of HIV among gay and bisexual men, but also to recommit ourselves to the fight to end this devastating epidemic.

We at Gay Kenya would personally like to thank the Gay Kenya Staff members who took part in this march - Denis, Simon, Maurice - members of Other Sheep Kenya, GALCK and David Kuria, all the LGBTI individuals who personally came and all the other participants who marched hand in hand with us to make this a successful initiative.

For more pictures visit our Facebook Page.

Grassroots anti-homophobia work in Kenya

Source: African Activist

By Rev. John Makokha

Other Sheep Kenya held a seminar on LGBTI issues, human rights, HIV/AIDS and religion in Kisumu on July 19, 2010. There were 45 participants drawn from diverse religious faith such as Christian, Muslim and African traditional religion and civil society. The purpose of the seminar was to address homophobia, reduce stigma, discrimination, and enhance tolerance towards the LGBTI community in Kenya.

Rev. John Makokha said that religious institutions and civil society movements should develop safe spaces for LGBTI community since gay rights are human rights. “Homosexuality is not a sin but heterosexism is a serious sin since it violates justice, truth and love. Discrimination breaks the heart of God”, he said.
“As a Christian leader, I felt I need to apologize to the LGBT community for the treatment they have received at the hands of Christians down the years in Africa due to homophobia and transphobia based on ignorance and bigotry”, he said.

He said that celibacy is an option to all people, and those who seek to force homosexual persons into heterosexual behavior are guilty of sexual violence and violation of human rights. Celibacy is a vocation to which one is called, not a way of life to which one is condemned. Sexual energy is not to be repressed in either heterosexuals or homosexual people unless the persons choose freely to live in that manner.

He said that research in Africa has shown that there is a deep problem to homosexuality since it is considered a spiritual disease and a curse. Conservative Christian fundamentalists and moralists in Kenya have expressed the desire to reach out to the homosexuals but to recognize that homosexuals are not part of God’s family. We have to stop both physical and spiritual violence against our brothers and sisters who are LGBTI since they did not choose to be what they are.

Read more »

Video: An Interview with Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK)

Source: GTZ

The cultural, religious and ethnic dynamics around the subject of homosexuality continues to create controversy in the legal and political spheres of Kenya. To be homosexual is still identified as unnatural, ungodly, a taboo while stigmatization and hostility remain. Recently, threats and physical attacks against gay men appear increasing. The situation is particularly challenging to the public health discourse where HIV infection among gay men contributes significantly to the HIV epidemic in Kenya. In Kenya, the GTZ Health Sector Programme targets sexual minorities such as LGBTI in its sexual and reproductive health interventions. This is based on its rights based approach to programming that recognises sexual minorities as a vulnerable group especially to HIV infection and other STIs. GTZ has supported the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) to develop its strategic plan that is crucial in informing the direction for addressing the needs of its members. GTZ also supports interventions to end discrimination, stigma and social exclusion for such minorities. For instance, in collaboration with ART2BE, GTZ is supporting various best practice projects to help individuals cope with the HIV infection and with homosexuality -- related discrimination.

GTZ has recently partnered with GALCK in the production of a short video which gives a snapshot of the current situation of gay people in Kenya as well as challenges faced in society. The theme of 'diversity' cuts across the 4-minute video and highlights human rights for all. This video was presented through a panel discussion within the "13th Eschborn Dialogue: Diversity, the Culture Factor" that was held in Germany in June, 2010. The key messages and outcomes of the discussions were that: sexual diversity is a right to non-discrimination and that lobbying of civil society is the basis to increase political will. The discussions also highlighted the need to produce positive messages to gain commitment among politicians and the society and to increase the network and lessons learned in exchange with other countries, as well as the need to move beyond a human rights perspective but also look at the social and economic advantage of sexual diversity and diversity management.

Kenya: LGBT celebrate IDAHO, go public

Members of the Afra Kenya Gay activist group entertain a gathering at the National Museum where they assembled to mark the Gay day on May 17, 2010. Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO

Source: Daily Nation

By Lucas Barasa and Joy Wanja

Scores of Kenya homosexuals celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia in style Monday and demanded for more recognition.

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBIT) persons wined, sung and danced and for the first time allowed media coverage of their function to fight stigma and victimisation associated with their sexual orientation.

“Ten years ago there was no public place that could have hosted such a function,” Kenya Human Rights Commission director Muthoni Wanyeki, whose lobby organised the event at the National Museums of Kenya, said.

“Although the Committee of Experts did not allow same sex marriage in Kenya. The Proposed Constitution would enable all Kenyans access health and are free from discrimination and violence. The basic rights are for all Kenyans including people from the gay community.”

Ms Wanyeki, however, said despite the government allowing the gay community to meet the battle against harassment of and violence against sexual minorities is still on.

Same sex relationships

Activist Kate Kamunde, who sung lyrics urging the gay to unite and battle hate crime and homophobia, said the community was facing a lot of violence and that some parents stopped paying fees for their children after discovering they were engaged in same sex relationship.

Read more »

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

By Paul Canning

Hundreds of events have been scheduled across the world to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), 17 May.

Cuba will commemorate for the third consecutive year the International Day against Homophobia with activities May 11-18, announced Mariela Castro, director of the National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX).

The major Hungarian LGBT organisation Hatter, is organizing a workshop to celebrate IDAHO titled 'Rainbow families: the question of same sex couples and their children in light of political debates and international requirements'.

There will be more than 150 events mark IDAHO across France. Highlights of the programme include :
A national conference on Religions, Homophobia and Transphobia, with high level representatives of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim cults. The French Minister for Interior/Domestic Affairs will chair the conference that will take place in the Parliament building.

In Kenya, GALCK shall mark the day by presenting dances, and acting a play based on the Ugandan Law. IDAHO shall also be marked in at least two other cities in Kenya, including Nakuru and Kisumu.

In Solvakia Idaho day will be marked by the first Pride March ever to be organised.

Various Brasilian Ministerial agencies, Members of Parliaments, UN agencies and civil society organisations will come together on 18 May in Brasilia to discuss the perspectives of Human Rights.

In Cambodia, this year, a Pride Parade will mark the International Day Against Homophobia, with an extensive program of activities. In addition to the parade itself, the association organized Pride Cambodia also a whole series of events between 10 and 17 May.

• See the Idaho website for more on international events.

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Update on threat to gays on Kenya's coast

By Paul Canning

Threats to a HIV/AIDS clinic at the centre of anti-gay rioting in the town of Mtwapa, near Mombasa, appear to have been averted.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) clinic had been threatened with attack on Christian radio station Baraka FM with a closure deadline of today, 12 March. Their broadcasts said: "homosexuals are not human beings and should be treated as such".

Kenya Human Rights Comission (KHRC) Board member Muthoni Wanyeki told LGBT Asylum News that no attack thus far has happened. Mtwapa is largely Muslim and the local Muslim leader Sheikh Ali Hussein has given assurances of no future attacks after KHRC human rights workers spoke with him. Hussein had been cited as one of those leaders responsible for the Feb 11-13 rioting. In addition the local police have organised security.

Other interventions have included Kenyan gay Christians working with local Muslim and Christian leaders as well as concerted educational efforts by the KEMRI clinic itself.

Poster digitally altered to hide David's face and contacts

Gay leader targeted

Further information has come to light about the US evangelical Christian group personally targeting David Kuria, a leader of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK).

ProjectSee.com, which is based in Kansas City Georgia, is raising funds to 'equip our Kenyan Brothers with Cameras, Banners, Fliers, Posters, Bus Fare; the Tools they Need to STOP Exporting Evil'.

Posters targeting Kuria have appeared in Eldoret, Nakuru, Nairobi, Mombasa and Matatus.

Gug of gayuganda has translated the text:

Basically, besides the pic of David, with his full names, email address, GALCK phone number, a verse from the bible is quoted.

'If a man sleeps with another man like he sleeps with a woman, both men have done something extremely bad. It is a must for them to be killed, and their blood shall be on their own heads'

My swahili fails at the translation of what verse in the bible it is. Something, maybe Leviticus 20:23

Denis Nzioka of GAAI-Africa says that ProjectSEE.com is part of a violent fringe US anti-abortion group.

ProjectSEE.com campaign group's American coordinator and website editor is Jonathan O'Toole from Carrollton, Georgia. He is married to a woman he met in Kenya, Esther O’Toole (nee Esther Njenga).

On the Army of God website, O'Toole states on a deceleration for James Charles Kopp

James Kopp did what our elected governing representatives have failed to do: protect the lives of unborn babies with the least amount of necessary force. God bless James Kopp.

Kopp was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 23 years imprisonment for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an American physician from New York who performed abortions. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Army of God as a hate group, an American terrorist group.

O'Toole has links with Michael Bray of Wilmington, Ohio, a vocal and violent activist convicted of string of bombings against women's health care clinics providing abortion in the mid-1980s. and also the author of "A Time to Kill", a book offering religious justification for the murder of abortion providers.

Also linked to O'Toole is Neal Horsley also of Carrollton. Horsley is running in 2010 as a candidate for Georgia governor under his Creator's Rights Party on a nullification (neo secessionist) and a militant anti-abortionist platform.

Horsley's campaign is advertised on the ProjectSEE.com website. He is famed for producing the website The Nuremberg Files which listed doctors who performed abortions in America including their photos and contact details, the website was eventually shut down, but Horsley used a new ISP and produced it again.

Horsley was arrested at Carrollton on 10 March and charged with terrorists threats and criminal defamation against Sir Elton John. Esther O’Toole was present at the arrest.

Following a GAAI complaint, PayPal has agreed to investigate whether the group's fundraising using their services breaks their terms and conditions. GAAI has also asked Yahoo to investigate.

Continuing threats to gays on Kenya's coast

By Paul Canning

A Christian Radio Station in Mombasa, Kenya, is continuing to broadcast threats against local LGBT. Baraka FM, along with others, has been implicated in inciting the attempted pogrom February 11-13 in Mtwapa, near Mombasa.

Blogger GayUganda reports receiving an email stating that the station read out the following threat:

"Homosexuals are not human beings and should be treated as such..... The KEMRI-UW research centre has been given 7 Days to close or we shall attack it on Friday next week [12 Feb]"

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) clinic in Mtwapa was the centre of the mob attacks, due to it providing HIV/AIDS services to men who have sex with men (MSM).

The author of the email said:

Considering that this is how it started last time, if you remember we raised an alarm a day earlier and the attacks happened the following day, I advise that we take precaution and consider informing all our contacts in Mombasa about the Lurking Danger.

There is negative talk that the Muslims in Mtwapa want to make an example of someone, they are vowing not to take anyone to the police this time. Keep us in your hearts and as earlier requested, anyone who can assist especially in the area of reaching out to the Muslim community or the security apparatus will be highly appreciated.

Police rescued a number of gay men from mob attacks, fueled by rumours of a 'gay wedding' and believed to have been organised, and released them without charge. Human rights activist Muthoni Wanyeki, a executive member of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, has praised the actions of the police.

Attempts at dialogue

Following the mob attacks, Sheikh Ali Hussein, Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) Kikambala coordinator, and the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK)'s Kilifi District representative, Bishop Laurence Chai, had continued to threaten the KEMRI clinic and rejected government attempts to calm the situation by joining a committee which aims to educate wananchi (the public) on the operations of the clinic.

Kenyan LGBT Christian organisation Other Sheep supported by the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative (EASHRI) reached out, facilitating three seminars for Christian religious leaders, LGBTI and Muslim religious leaders in the Mombasa region to address religious homophobia and transphobia.

Leader Michael Kimindu said:

The association had decided to use the two major religions to create awareness on issues of human sexuality and religion. We went to Mtwapa and talked to Christians and they asked for more time and education to discuss issues of sexual orientation and the bible.

They held a seminar for 32 Christian pastors drawn from various denominational backgrounds 5 March in Mtwapa. The chairman of the Mtwapa Pastors’ interdenominational Fellowship, secretary and treasurer participated in the workshop.

They aim to organise further workshops aiming to reach out to about 350 clergy in Mtwapa.

These will provide:

• more resource materials on LGBTI and Christianity for further reference and study
• seminars on the bible and sexuality.

The pastors said that 95% of religious leaders in Mtwapa have no college education and that negative reactions to homosexuality come from ignorance. They pledged to nurture the spirit of tolerance and acceptance of people of different sexual orientation without resorting to violence, and follow the model of Jesus.

They were trained in the areas of sexual orientation, religious homophobia and transphobia, culture and LGBTI, counseling of LGBTI and PFLAG (parents and friends of lesbians and gays) and MSM HIV/AIDS initiatives.

The following day the group met with 30 top Muslim religious leaders in a Mombasa hotel. They included the leader of Muslim men in Kenya, the leader of Muslim women in Kenya and the leader of Muslim youth in Kenya, Chairman of Kenya Muslims Advisory and director of NACADA, which deals with substance abuse.

Similar to the outcome of the meeting with the Christian pastors the leaders wanted more dialogue on religious interpretations of dealings with homosexuality: "counseling of LGBTI instead of stoning to death of homosexuals".

One Muslim observation was:

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed killing everybody in these cities but strange enough homosexuality is still in existence, so by stoning homosexuals to death isn’t the solution, but understanding them.

Women at the meeting complained that Sheikhs and Imams ask for anal sex from their wives and sleep with young boys in the community/mosques. This puts them at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

Other Sheep Kenya also met with local LGBT in Mombasa who reported great ignorance on HIV/AIDS as well as discrimination based on skin colour, with darker skinned gays being more harassed than lighter skinned ones. One outcome was to do outreach to the local media.

As well KEMRI took part in a media clinic at a Mombasa hotel 4 March. They told journalists that 15.2 per cent of all new HIV infections in Kenya were through men having sex with men.

Dr Mary Mwang’ombe, KEMRI researcher based at Mtwapa, said that it was difficult for researchers to gain access to homosexuals and investigate their HIV risk behaviour and prevalence rates.

Most of these men live a secluded lifestyle to avoid being discriminated against by the police and the health care personnel.

In addition to the clinic, a gay-friendly Mombasa bar, Club California, is facing closure following the imposition of 'impossible demands' by local authorities. The Department of Public Health visited the club 12 February, the day of the riot, and issued a notice demanding undefined improvements to the club's "sanitary conditions".

The victims speak out

South African LGBT website Behind the Mask has interviewed some of the men caught up in the February mob attacks. All preferred to use only their first names.

Ali, speaking through Javine Ochieng of Gay Kenya, said:

There was no wedding planned at all. I heard the news from the mosque as a sermon was being passed that there was a wedding to take place.

The Imam said that they can not condone a homosexual marriage to take place by any chance since the person to be married is a Muslim and that we have to protect the Islamic norms and shed blood to stop the wedding.

After the sermon at the Mosque Ali says he went to a barber and was questioned about the rumours of a gay wedding, supposed to take place 12 February. The barber accused Ali of being one of those getting married and told him to get ready for "a hunt" that day for "those getting married and that they will be killed". On Ali's departure the barber told him never to set foot in his barber shop again.

Ali was beaten up by a mob and taken to Mtwapa Police Station where he was rescued by activists from Kenyan Human Rights Commission, then immediately taken to hospital since he relies on an inhaler for his asthmatic condition.

George was also attacked by the mob and taken to the cells while Nicholas was arrested from the KEMRI research centre where he works.

Lameck was arrested from his home, Yvonne from KEMRI, where he works, and Hanza was rescued by activists and taken to a place of safety before the mob could confront him.

All are now in a place of safety coordinated by the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) but they say they now live in fear, not knowing what will happen next.

Said Yvonne:

People can still recognise us even in our hiding place and there are rumours of demonstrations that will be held against homosexuality to strategise on how to search for the remaining gay people in Mtwapa and Mombasa.

Nicholas warned:

If the society does not accept this [existence of homosexuals], people will continue practicing unsafe sex, due to lack of information and hence the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Some of the people in the mob who were beating us are always gay in the dark and very heterosexual in light.

Kenyan press debate

Read more »

Updates on continuing anti-gay pogrom in Kenya

By Paul Canning

• Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirms pogrom fears, writes demanding action from Kenyan authorities
• Six gay men released from police custody, told to leave the region
• HRW say no arrests for homosexual offences made
• Mob attacks spread to Mombasa from nearby towns
• Local politicians closely involved in attempted pogrom
• Public continue to identify gay men, police arrest them
• More reports of media incitement role 
• Anti-gay forces plan further attacks

The HRW letter, organised by Dipika Nath, researcher in the LGBT rights program, details the investigations carried out by local human rights bodies and backs the account of events first circulated by Kenyan gay groups in the immediate aftermath of the attempted pogrom.

HRW say that events began with in late January with unsubstantiated rumours about a "gay wedding" scheduled for February 12 (other reports say it was a joke made in a barbers). Radio stations discussed the rumour then on February 7 several imams and muftis (Islamic scholars) told their congregations during Friday prayers to be vigilant and to "expose" homosexuals in Mtwapa, a town north of Mombasa.

On February 11 Sheikh Ali Hussein of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and Bishop Lawrence Chai of the National Council of Churches of Kenya held a news conference.

As reported by Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation and confirmed by other witnesses who spoke to HRW, they demanded an investigation of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Mtwapa, a government health center that provides HIV/AIDS services. They criticized the government for "providing counselling services to these criminals" and demanded that the KEMRI office be shut down.

In a statement after the meeting, the religious leaders promised to "flush out gays", local activists told HRW.

The next day an armed mob of 200 to 300 people, which HRW say appeared planned rather than spontaneous, surrounded the KEMRI health center. HRW say that a KEMRI staff member was pointed out as homosexual because he wore a T-shirt promoting safer sex and arrested, the report from local gay groups say the T-shirt had a pink triangle on it (the symbol worn by gays in Nazi death camps).

The mob continued to pull two people from a home and beat senseless another man who was approaching the health center and was about to set him on fire when the police arrived and took him into custody as well. Others went to the homes of gays and threatened them.

Local activists told HRW that none of the men were charged and they have all since been released, and that the police were attempting to protect them from violence by taking them into custody. However HRW says that the men were asked to submit to forensic examinations to determine if they are homosexual. Five of them refused and the sixth consented and was examined, although no "evidence" of homosexuality is reported to have been found.

Human Rights Watch said:

Forensic medical examinations to "prove" homosexual conduct are archaic and discredited. If conducted without genuine consent, they may constitute torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

The mob were addressed outside the police station where the gay men were being held by speakers including a religious leader saying all homosexuals should be driven out and another (a former local MP according to other reports) saying to not bother bringing homosexuals to the police but rather to take the law into its own hands.

A Dutch man, Jankees de Ridder, who was traveling through Mtwapa the next day, Saturday 13 Feb, reported that the mob were holding the Kenyan newspaper the Saturday Nation with their photograph on the front page.

Police in a pick-up could hardly prevent the mob from beating a man, lying in the vehicle. I was shocked. I was even more shocked as I had read about a bishop and a Imam in the Friday newspaper calling on youths to harass homosexuals.

GALCK's David Kuria says that reports coming in to them are that police have initiated an operation to identify and arrest suspected homosexuals. Local politicians are actively involved in the exercise of identifying people as are members of the public.

Most of the people have been arrested from their offices or as in the case of two of the men, while boarding public transport - each in a different location.

Kuria says that medical professionals were relocated from attending normal hospital operations to help the police with quick identification of the homosexuals through medical examinations. He says that it is assumed that many people will be arrested during the police swoops and the medical professionals will help in filtering those who will be taken to court and those to be released.

The BBC say that police spokesman Martha Mutegi told them that the gay men taken into custody had been advised to leave the area for their own safety and 'to avoid angering the local community'.

HRW say that attacks on gays have spread to Mombasa.

"Inaction is complicity, and silence can be lethal."

They say that none of the attackers have been arrested but that several people have gone into hiding; others are preparing to flee their homes at a moment's notice.

Gay Uganda reports that further demonstrations are planned after Friday prayers (Feb 19). HRW say that Sheikh Ali Hussein had announced this on the radio and that local activists fear that demonstrations may extend to mosques along the coast, including in Mombasa. Hussein told Islam Online:

We are ready to shed our bloods to protect the dignity of Mtwapa town and we want our people to rise up against the vice.

Human Rights Watch's Dipika Nath said:

The government is sitting silent while mobs try to kill human rights defenders and assault people they suspect are gay. Inaction is complicity, and silence can be lethal.

The police need to arrest the attackers and put a halt to what appears to be a coordinated nationwide attack on people perceived to be homosexual. The disruption of lifesaving HIV/AIDS work could mean a public health catastrophe as well as a human rights disaster.

The attacks and hate-mongering and the government's failure to act have spread fear in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, Human Rights Watch said.

Meanwhile the BBC continues to carry a completely different account of events from those coming from human rights and gay groups.

Local reporter Odhiambo Joseph continues to claim that "five people [were] arrested for planning a "gay wedding"" and in its latest report now says that "the rallies were apparently sparked by US President Barack Obama's condemnation of planned anti-gay legislation in neighbouring Uganda."

He also claims that (my emphasis) "police began a crackdown on the gay community last week following anti-gay protests".

The reporting echoed that of Islam Online which claimed that:

Muslim and Christian residents of Mtwapa, a district in the outskirts of the port city of Mombassa, recently joined hands in disrupting a planned nuptial involving two local tribesmen on the ground of being completely an alien practice in their largely conservative community.

They quote Bishop Laurence Chai, of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, about the non-existent marriage:

We may be on the verge of being doomed had these criminals managed to conduct their evil exercise within our neighborhood.

• UPDATE: further reporting including quotes from local activists from Doug Ireland: False Gay Marriage Rumor Sparks Kenyan Riots and Jim Burroway Anti-Gay Vigilantism Unleashed In Kenya, More Mob Arrests Feared and Voice of America Rights Groups Demand Protection of Gays in Kenya

Media asked to correct innacurate Kenyan anti-gay pogrom reports

By Paul Canning

Following my complaint to the BBC I received this response:

Thank you for your interest in the website.

We use inverted commas around words in headlines to indicate that something is claimed but not confirmed.

In the story you mention, the idea that there was a gay wedding came from local officials and police and had not been confirmed by one of our reporters, so we put it in inverted commas. It is attributed in the story to district officer George Matandura. We did not report it as fact.

Likewise, the word gay is put in inverted commas because it is an accusation made by the police in a country where homosexuality is illegal. To state as fact that those arrested are gay could harm their legal defence in the event of a trial.

Kind regards

Joe Boyle
BBC News website, Africa desk
8 joe.boyle@bbc.co.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk

In reply I told Joe that Kenyan gay organisations say that the BBC reporter was told at the Kemri clinic on the Thursday prior to the first riot that there never was a wedding. I did not say this but really it should be blindingly obvious not just that there couldn't have been any wedding but there wouldn't be one going ahead - a theme of media reports - on the Saturday following days of media incitement to 'find (and kill) the gays'.

The major failure though is the absence from the BBC and agency reports of the media and clerical
incitement to massacre and their coordination with police. None of them have carried the statements by Kenyan gay groups about the attempted pogrom.

I have asked for corrections from pinknews.co.uk, the New York Times and the Guardian.

The following is the text of my complaint to the BBC:

BBC: Kenyan police raid 'gay wedding' and arrest five men

Summary: Innacurate misreporting aided media incitement of pogrom

This article is based on coverage in Kenyan media as well as statements by local police. It includes one brief reference to a Kenyan gay source.

Statements made detailing the events from Kenyan gay and human rights sources since have catalogued local police complicity in an attempted pogrom organised from local clerics and politicians and aided by media incitement.

They also say that the BBC was amongst media which was told prior to the first riot that the source - the wedding claim - was false. However this was not included.

The debunking of the events and claims by Kenyan organisations of an attempted, incited pogrom of gays have not been reported by the BBC.

Further, in his response to my original complaint, Joe Boyle, BBC News website, Africa desk, says that the headline used, which had 'gay' in inverted commas, was because it was not confirmed that those arrested were gay. However this could have been confirmed by the local groups which say they were not spoken to.

In addition, those groups could have confirmed that the supposed wedding was a concoction as they would know that it was both impossible and something Kenyan gays wouldn't do. It, infact, from their perspective, beggars belief that it would even be entertained as a possibility, let alone that following days of media incitement that it would go ahead.

Your reporter in failing to speak with gay organisations failed to understand this and your reporting ended up being part of the incitement (rioting happened on the Saturday and further demonstrations are planned) and playing down of what was a pogrom.

It was completely comparable with the incitement prior to the genocide in Rwanda. Replace 'gay' with 'Tutsi' and re-read the reports.

The very least the BBC could do is report on the statements of local gay and human rights organisations. It should not let the statements of those who attempted the pogrom stand as its sole coverage of these events.

Statements by the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya: http://www.galck.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:kenyan-gays-appeal-to-the-government-for-protection&catid=7:news&Itemid=5
http://www.galck.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57:gay-attacks-in-mombasa-developing-story&catid=7:news&Itemid=5

Statement by Gay Activists Alliance International Africa: http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&blogger=Denis+Nzioka&Itemid=1035

Complaint made to BBC on Kenyan gay coverage

Why is the BBC putting gay back in inverted commas 
Coverage of terrifying Mombasa riot against gays inaccurate and misleading

Sunday, 14 February 2010

The Editor of LGBT Asylum News, Paul Canning, today complained to the BBC over its coverage of a so-called 'gay wedding' in Mombasa, Kenya and attempted massacre of local gay men.

The BBC carried the headline 'Police arrest five 'gay' Kenyans' [screenshot link below] on its website, a link which led to a story headlined 'Kenya chiefs block Mombasa 'gay wedding''.

In December the BBC's coverage of gay issues in Africa faced widespread condemnation when a discussion board on it's website aimed at Africans asked 'Should Homosexuals Face Execution?'

Canning said that a number of Kenyan gay sources have confirmed there was no wedding including the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, which blamed the riot on media incitement.

The first BBC report had carried a brief reference to statements by Kenyan gay community condemning arrests of gays by local police but not their refutation of the wedding claim.

Canning has tracked the timeline of the events.

A riot started on Friday following a report in Kenya's newspaper The Daily Nation, and subsequent radio reports, of a supposed 'gay wedding' at Mtwapa, a Indian Ocean beach resort, north-east of Kenya's second city.

Kenyan gay activists say the newspaper report was based on "rumors started in a hair salon" following a practical joke on a local radio station and that there never was a planned 'wedding'. GayUganda reports receiving email saying that "one of our Guys made a joke last week that he was getting married to his lover, this issue has been picked by Radio Rahma and it's inciting Muslims against Gay men".

Activists claim that presenters on the radio stations Kaya and Baraka FM had been inciting people, with Radio Rahama asking Muslims to "find these men".

Canning said:

"It is shocking that the BBC is carrying the incitement to murder of gay men by the local media and clerics, repeating as fact their claims. The local TV footage shows terrified gays holding a meeting at a clinic as part of a HIV vaccine research project surrounded by a mob being hauled out by police - but the BBC refers to 'Crowds gathered' and 'protests'."

"This reporting plays down what it is a clear attempt to massacre local gay men. Why has the BBC not spoken to the organised gay community?"

"Would the BBC have carried the fantastical claims made by Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines prior to the Rwandan genocide as fact? African media regularly carries fantastical claims about gays. The BBC should be far more careful than it is being in repeating those claims as fact."

BBC: Kenyan police raid 'gay wedding' and arrest five men
BBC: Kenya chiefs block Mombasa 'gay wedding'

Screenshot of BBC website showing the headline

Statement by the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya have said that they would complain to the Media Council of Kenya. Canning said he had written to encourage them and GAAI Africa to also complain to the BBC.

GAAI Africa can be contacted at gaai_gcdgh@yahoo.co.uk

Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya info@galck.org
Telephone:     +254-20-242-6060
Mobile Phone Number:     +254 714 492 228 or +254 736 345 328
http://www.galck.org


Text of complaint to BBC follows.

~~~~

Re: so-called Kenyan 'gay wedding'

Firstly, I understand it is against your style manual to put the word gay in inverted commas yet that's what I see on your website in a headline: Police arrest five 'gay' Kenyans.

Secondly, there was no 'gay wedding'. Just because the local newspaper and radio said there was and this was then repeated by police and clerics does not make it so.

The Kenyan gay community, in particular The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya in their statement, make this clear. Yet you are reporting this as fact.

What there was was media incitement which stirred up a mob, most horrifically seen in local TV footage.

None of this is reflected in your reports. They are misleading and inaccurate.

Here is my reporting, with sources http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/02/five-gay-men-arrested-in-mombassa-kenya.html

Five gay men arrested in Mombasa, Kenya; Mobs call for death by fire

Protesters outside Spaki mosque in Mombasa on Friday


By Paul Canning

Six gay men arrested alledgedly to protect them from a rampaging mob in Mombasa, Kenya are to be charged with 'having unnatural sex against the order of nature' and subjected to medical examinations.

A riot started on Friday following a report in Kenya's newspaper The Daily Nation, and subsequent radio reports, of a supposed 'gay wedding' at Mtwapa, a Indian Ocean beach resort, north-east of Kenya's second city.

Kenyan gay activists say the newspaper report was based on "rumors started in a hair salon" following a practical joke and that there never was a planned 'wedding'. GayUganda reports receiving email saying that "one of our Guys made a joke last week that he was getting married to his lover, this issue has been picked by Radio Rahma and it's inciting Muslims against Gay men".

Updated Monday from this point: Kenyan Human Rights activists from the groups PeaceMaker (PEMA) and Stay Alive have researched on the ground and say:

The most repeated version is that about two weeks ago a well known and popular gay man in the Mtwapa area [16km north of Mombasa], went to the barbershop for a haircut. When one of the barbers commented that his hair looked really nice and asked him where he was going, he responded JOKINGLY that he was going to get married.

However the barber took it seriously and went to his local mosque and reported that there was a planned gay wedding set for Friday February 12th in Mtwapa. The Imam then made an announcement in the mosque that this was going to happen and instructed the congregation to start monitoring any community gatherings to ensure that there were no gay weddings.

As a result of ensuing radio coverage a local councilor in Mnarani near Kilifi (between Malindi and Mombasa) organised a demonstration against homosexuality for Monday Feb 8 and the KEMRI research center in Kilifi which is a centre for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. KEMRI heard about this and asked the councilor to cancel the demonstration, which it was.

However on the Thursday local media as well as the BBC reporter Odhiambo Joseph went to KEMRI to ask about the gay wedding, supposedly to be held at a beach resort on the Saturday. They were told there was no wedding.

Activists claim that all week presenters on the radio stations Kaya and Baraka FM had been inciting people, with Radio Rahama asking Muslims to "find these men".

On the Friday The Daily Nation published interviews with local clerics from the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) and the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) who'd called at a press conference the previous day on the government to "vet all nightclubs in the town and close down those found promoting to gay activities."

Said Bishop Laurence Chai, described as the leader of 'Operation Gays Out': "We thank God for saving this town from being turned to Sodom and Gomorra of this era as we may be on verge of being doomed had this criminals managed to conduct their evil exercise within our neighbourhood."

He claimed that gay couples from Western countries would be amongst guests at the supposed wedding, said that youths were being 'recruited' into gay clubs and that “god is about to punish the fastest growing town in Coast region”.

The clerics specifically warned the owner of a building which acts as a safe house for gay men. They called for the closure of KEMRI: “how can a state institution be involved on the pretext of providing counseling
services to these criminals”. (KEMRI provides care and treatment to all community members including men who have sex with men (MSM)).

Police drag gay man from KEMRI building and arrest him


Mtwapa residents protest


 
On the Friday Imams and Muftis called at Friday prayers for people to "demonstrate and to flush out homosexuals from the midst of Mtwapa and to ensure that no gay wedding took place" according to human rights activists. A spokesman for Kenyan gay group GAAI told the gayswithoutborders international network that:

A mob showed up outside the KEMRI building to demonstrate against the gay wedding and gay people in general. They pulled I believe 2 people out of the building and beat them badly. The police intervened and arrested the two ( actually possibly saved their lives from the mob). The police later went to the center and arrested I believe 3 others. So we have five arrested gay men at Mtwapa police station. The mob moved with the police to the station which is where they still are.

The KEMRI building includes a clinic where gay men were initially believed to be holding a meeting as part of a HIV Vaccine research project. Police and the mob leader, arrested one staff member pointed out as 'gay' by the mob leader because he was wearing a teeshirt promoting condom use, 'Komesha Ukimwi tumia condom', which included a pink triangle (the symbol work by gays in Nazi death camps). However the BBC reported District police officer George Matandura saying there were two men arrested and had been found with wedding rings, attempting to get married. Police and the mob returned later and arrested another staff member.

PeaceMaker (PEMA) and Stay Alive say:

A number of religious and political leaders took the opportunity to speak to the crowd. Sheikh Ali Hussein’s speech was inciting and he kept talking about Sodom and Gomorrah and the need to root all homosexuals from the Mtwapa area.

Omar Masumbuko, the former MP of the area told the crowd to not bother taking gay men to the police but that they should 'take care of the issue themselves'.

Another report said that two men suspected of being a couple by residents were "flushed out" of their ransacked apartment within the town and police found wedding rings on their fingers. Activists say the police participated in the raid and were directed by the mob leader.

PeaceMaker (PEMA) and Stay Alive say:

While all this was going on Omondi (not real name) a 23 year old security guard was alighting from a matatu heading towards the center when he saw a mob walking towards him. A woman on the street told him not to go that way and two young men walking by him told him he was going to die that day.

Not knowing what was going on he immediately tried to run away but unfortunately it was too late and the mob caught up to him and beat him senseless. A female sex worker tried to protect him with her body and yelling at the crowd that they can’t just kill people like that and that he hadn’t done anything. The police arrived just in time to save his life since the mob had already dosed Omondi with kerosene and were about to burn him alive.

Omondi was arrested and taken to Mtwapa police station bloody, dazed, and unsure what had just happened to him. The police didnot offer any medical assistance and he was thrown into the cell.

The Daily Nation said that police saved three men suspected of being "notorious gays" from "hundreds of angry youth baying for their blood" and shouting "they should be burned". The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya claimed that the Mombasa area is "drowning in drugs" and a large number of "drug addicted youths" accompanied the police. 

GAAI reports that:

The police told [our source] that they had arrested the guys to diffuse the situation since it was getting out of hand.

The police asked the Imams to calm the youth and they agreed. The Imams were happy that the police had started arresting homosexuals and wanted them to arrest more from the clinic.

Our credible source say the men have so far been transferred from Mtwapa, a police station where they were arrested and taken, to Mombasa city, the Coastal police provincial headquarter for medical examination.

Reports say that the state has taken the steps when it emerged that they may have nothing to charge the five men in court because those who were arrested had not committed any crime against the state. They had just gathered for a group meeting .

The Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHCR) is mobilizing a response. They are identifying a lawyer to go to the police station as well as setting up systems for individuals who need medical care after they are released.

The mob violence continued on the Saturday with a KEMRI worker beaten and burnt with cigarette butts. He was saved by the police after a mob member approached him with kerosene but arrested and joins five others in Mtwapa police station.

They will be at court on Monday Feb 15 and further anti-gay demonstrations are planned. Most local gay men have gone into hiding or fled. Because of the attack on the KEMRI clinic many people living with HIV/AIDS will be unable to get their medicines.

Four months ago a Kenyan gay couple married in London - an event which received wide media coverage inside Kenya. There has also been media discussion of an appeal by Kenyan gay groups for protection to be included in the country's constitutional revision.

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) accused the media of inciting the anti-gay rioting and said that they would complain to the Media Council of Kenya.

We understand the media especially in Mombasa called upon residents to ‘stand against the pollution of culture’.  In the supposed gay wedding publicised in the media, there are glaring inconsistencies that the media should have investigated before broadcasting the news.

PeaceMaker (PEMA) and Stay Alive say that the mob was not a spontaneous community uprising against homosexuals, but "a much more organized event" centred on religious leaders with the police working
with them when it comes to arrests and breaking into people homes.

GALCK and other partners are considering pressing charges against the two religious leaders and the former MP for inciting the community to commit crime. Lawyers have been organised to defend the six gay men.

NTVKenya report

• Complaint made to BBC on Kenyan gay coverage