LGBTQIA+ News
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A Letter from Father Antonio
During the weekend of February 5th through the 7th, 2022, Father Antonio Nyandoro Ocharo traveled to various areas across Kenya in order to meet with a few of the thousands of secreted LGBTQIA+ members across the Kenyan region. He describes below what he learned from these people about the many ways their society has harmed them. Fr. Antonio sent this to our anonymous LGBTQIA online group. It should be noted that Fr. Antonio had a bout of malaria while on this ministry trip but persevered in order to meet those who need our help.
Dear Brethren,
I am proud to be associated with you all. Last week, I travelled to Nairobi to meet some LGBTQ friends. One of them saw what I had written on my Facebook timeline and contacted me. They and I have been in constant communication since December. I had two meetings. I met three of them [friends of the initial contact] in the morning and two in the afternoon. I met them separately due to their work schedules. They told me about their tribulations in the hands of religious leaders! As much as the society is hostile to LGBTQIA communities, it saddened and still saddens me that religious leaders and religious institutions are the face persecution against people with divergent orientation. Imagine: family members have disowned them, the church has disowned them. Even one of them was sacked due to his sexual orientation. Of the five [I met], one was a lady who was ejected from her home and for the past 6 years she has never gone to visit her family members. We all agreed to meet again in April and bring more to the fold and also do research on the LGBTQ organisations and see how we can fit in. [If we cannot find any], then we will have one for fight for the safe space of LGBTQS in Kenya and beyond.
I am invited to the coastal region, as well, and as soon as I budget for the trip I will be there to meet some LGBTQ brethren and come up with a way forward.
Pray for this cause.
-Father Antonio
I am proud to be associated with you all. Last week, I travelled to Nairobi to meet some LGBTQ friends. One of them saw what I had written on my Facebook timeline and contacted me. They and I have been in constant communication since December. I had two meetings. I met three of them [friends of the initial contact] in the morning and two in the afternoon. I met them separately due to their work schedules. They told me about their tribulations in the hands of religious leaders! As much as the society is hostile to LGBTQIA communities, it saddened and still saddens me that religious leaders and religious institutions are the face persecution against people with divergent orientation. Imagine: family members have disowned them, the church has disowned them. Even one of them was sacked due to his sexual orientation. Of the five [I met], one was a lady who was ejected from her home and for the past 6 years she has never gone to visit her family members. We all agreed to meet again in April and bring more to the fold and also do research on the LGBTQ organisations and see how we can fit in. [If we cannot find any], then we will have one for fight for the safe space of LGBTQS in Kenya and beyond.
I am invited to the coastal region, as well, and as soon as I budget for the trip I will be there to meet some LGBTQ brethren and come up with a way forward.
Pray for this cause.
-Father Antonio
The AAOCC asks that you pray for our attempts to change the lives of the LGBTQIA community in Kenya and throughout Africa and beyond. It is so easy to look at life in America, Europe, and other progressive societies and forget that the majority of the world is unsafe (emotionally, physically, and legally) for the LGBQIA community born to those regions.
If you would like to help in this ministry to assist the LGBTQIA community in fighting for their rights and in keeping individuals safe, please donate to the AAOCC ministries below. If you would like more information about our anonymous groups and want to help on the ground with our efforts, email Father Antonio at: kenya@americanoldcatholic.org.
If you would like to help in this ministry to assist the LGBTQIA community in fighting for their rights and in keeping individuals safe, please donate to the AAOCC ministries below. If you would like more information about our anonymous groups and want to help on the ground with our efforts, email Father Antonio at: kenya@americanoldcatholic.org.
We are continuing to work on this page. Please check back regularly.