This is possibly the most shocking and horrifying story to drop into my inbox in weeks. From the US, journalist and blogger Dough Ireland reports on a wave of homophobic violence unleashed against Kenya’s gay community after local Imams reacted with hysteria to an urban myth.
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.”
Read Doug’s harrowing report.
And now watch this local TV news report (that also reports the myth as fact).
I really don’t know what to do or say anymore, to be honest.
