Kenya’s president criticizes court ruling on LGBTQ group

EVELYNE MUSAMBI
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — President William Ruto of Kenya criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows an activist to register an LGBTQ rights organization. The national board that oversees non-governmental organizations had denied the activist’s registration request. Kenya’s High Court and the Court of Appeal said the board acted improperly, and on Feb. 24, the Supreme Court agreed, dismissing the board’s further appeal. Ruto said Thursday that the government respects the Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision ruling but that “our culture and religion does not allow same-sex marriages.” Kenya’s penal code also criminalizes intimate relations between people of the same sex. Efforts by activists to get the court to scrap the colonial-era law have not succeeded.