Author: John Korir
Date: January 24, 2007
Source: Kenya Times http://www.timesnews.co.ke/24jan07/nwsstory/news7.html

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THE World Social Forum entered its third day yesterday with various international organisations participating at the global event continuing with their deliberations.

The venue where gays and lesbians made their deliberations attracted huge crowds, with curious participants trying to know more of the often shunned sexual orientation.

The groups are meeting under the auspices of Gay and Lesbians Coalition of Kenya ( GLCK). The groups have invited international personalities involved in the movement. They pronounced publicly that they are gay and lesbians and that what they need is recognition and accommodation from the rest of the community.

Dorothy Aken’Ova, Executive Director of an NGO dealing with sexual rights in Nigeria said the two sexual groups should not be discriminated against by the society.

She said it was sad that gays and lesbians were being molested as if they were lesser human beings, pointing out that their human rights should be not violated just because of their sexual orientation.

The Director told the participants that back in her home country, a Bill seeking to criminalise the practice has been introduced in Parliament.

She said if the Bill is passed into law, gays and lesbians and all those who associate with them are liable to prosecution and if convicted to serve a minimum sentence of not less than five years. “You can imagine how terrible that law is. If we were in Nigeria, now all of us who are advocating for this kind of thing will be thrown into jail,” she said.