False Gay Marriage Rumor Sparks Kenyan Riots

[Duncan Grant]

False Gay Marriage Rumor Sparks Kenyan Riots
Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:28 PM CST
BY DOUG IRELAND

In the coastal town of Mtwapa in Kenya’s Kilifi district, media hysteria and outrage by clerics over a non-existent gay wedding whipped up mob violence that began on February 12, unleashing a house-to-house witch hunt by anti-gay vigilantes, street attacks targeting gay men, the sacking of an AIDS-fighting medical center, and a widening wave of ultra-homophobic national media coverage.

Many gay men have gone into hiding or fled the area.

From Nairobi, the nation’s capital, Denis Nzioka, a prominent 24-year-old gay activist, told Gay City News, “Ever since the outburst of violence in Mtwapa, gay people have had to fear for their lives. Vigilante groups are hunting down gay men, going door to door, and anyone who is overly flamboyant is attacked in the street.”

According to an internal report jointly prepared by on-scene representatives of both the leading Kenyan queer group, the two-year-old Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), a non-governmental organization formed two decades ago, the wave of anti-gay violence had Kafkaesque origins in a false rumor about a gay wedding supposedly planned for February 12.

Full story at Gay City News.

[YOY]

1. So much in common with American fundies they should get along like Jack and Jill!

n/t

[SoCalNative]

2. Can we send the ignorant fundies

over there? They are always looking for converts with a similar way of thinking....

[provis99]

3. "Islam is against gay marriage"?

I missed that line in the Koran. Oh wait, its just some asshole telling people what Islam means, regardless of what Allah says.

[Toasterlad]

4. I Read This as "KANYE" Riots

I like that better. Anyone want to start a rumor that Kanye West just got married to a dude?