school and those days , where even reproduction education was not a subject in school as it was deemed too risky to introduce into the school curriculum , this was really strange territory .
An emergency assembly was called the next morning and the senior girl was asked to read out loud the letter to the assembled girls which she promptly refused and was summarily expelled being termed as a corrupter of innocent minds .
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The bible is very specific about the fate of people with gay tendencies which the church described as unnatural and an abomination . In fact , a much-quoted story of the bible is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to sexual aberrations .
The girl that had received the letter also suddenly left the school and Ochieng ’ s wife imagined that the trauma of being exposed and knowing everyone was talking about you was too much to bear for the girl .
The incident was probably equally traumatic for the headmistress since she never spoke about the incidence to the girls and life continued in school as though nothing had actually happened on that fateful day .
Ochieng remembered that story because it forms an excellent backdrop to an issue that has captured the imagination of Kenyans and as a country we seem ill prepared to handle this invasive topic which a former President called a non-issue for Kenya .
The drama started when The Supreme Court declared in a ruling that the LBTGQ community could register their organization because all Kenyans have a right to assembly and that right is protected in the constitution .
The quandary is that homosexuality is illegal in Kenya and it was interesting to hear The Supreme Court give the community an okay to assemble albeit to discuss an illegal matter akin to allowing a group of assassins to assemble to discuss murder .
Ochieng is aware that this is a murky subject and would like to discuss the topic from a Kenyan perspective since this issue seems to be on somebody ’ s agenda who is bent of ramming it down international throats .
A few months ago , a man who identifies with the rainbow community was murdered and his death , to the surprise of Kenyans received global coverage and even elicited comments from the US ambassador to Kenya .
Subsequent investigation discovered that the murder was a lover ’ s tiff where an intricate web of a threesome love affair gone sour , within the community , had boiled over resulting in the death of one of them .
But the press reporting of the incidence and the statement by the ambassador insinuated that there was foul play and the death was discriminatory and a persecution of the rainbow community and urged a speedy investigation to bring the perpetrators to book .
The press had kicked off the storm and the American government had picked the cue and both had pre-judged the incidence and offered an opinion before the investigation had even began or had any tentative clues .
Using crime statistics , Ochieng is certain that on that same day there were other violent crimes including murders that took place in Kenya but were not covered by the press let alone getting a comment from the American government representative .
The deceased was a Kenyan but he was neither a celebrity nor a national figure like a politician or sportsman to command such an interest hence the understandable surprise of many Kenyans who were hearing of his name in the international press for the first time .
Ochieng ’ s knowledge of the gay community in Kenya is sketchy at best since the subject is taboo in most if not all Kenyan tribes which was another cause for shocked surprise among Kenyans since it was improper to discuss his sexual orientation overtly .
This does not mean that ‘ gayism ’, if it ’ s a word , does not exist in Kenya , in fact a word exists in the Swahili language for the condition which is proof enough that it had been noted and given a word to describe it but discussion of all matters sexual in public is still taboo .
Ochieng is also aware that along the Kenyan coast there were men that made a living in the beauty sector as hair dressers and manicurists for ladies . Most were gays , dressed and behaved like women and were accepted in the community .
These men became so good at their trade that in time they have taken their skills to other major towns in Kenya especially Nairobi . They are a part of society and it is not on record that they are ever discriminated against .
But the fact that something is tolerated in a society does not mean it is accepted by that society and since society is not fickle , one needs to understand and appreciate how and why a particular society developed its values and norms .
Ochieng is not aware of any African ethnic group that would have ever contemplated gay tendencies since society was ordered around the survival of the group and romantic love was a foreign concept . Sexual orientation was determined by gender .
The concept that a man would prefer another man to form a family unit was not only absurd but was inimical to the survival of the group and therefore societal needs subsumed those of the individual .
Then came in the colonist with his bible and gun in tow and he decided to reorganize the Kenyan communities along geographical boundaries rather than existing ethnic boundaries and introduced Christianity and the British legal system .
The bible is very specific about the fate of people with gay tendencies which the church described as unnatural and an abomination . In fact , a much-quoted story of the bible is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to sexual aberrations .
Since this teaching did not contradict but affirmed the African norms and practices it was easy to adopt and incorporate in their every day life . Hence , a belief among the Africans was strengthened by a foreign religion .
Interestingly the Christians also forbade polygamous unions despite numerous examples in the bible that polygamy was the norm during the biblical days and insisted on a monogamous union as a prerequisite