Kenyan Couple Enter Civil Partnership in London

October 22, 2009

 

Two men over the weekend became the first Kenyan couple to wed in London, setting off a flurry of homophobic criticism in their native homeland and in the UK.

Charles Ngengi, 40, and Daniel Chege Gichia, 39, entered a civil partnership at Islington Town Hall in North London on Saturday, likely becoming the first Kenyan couple to do so in the UK.

Kenyan residents in the country have described the couple and the ceremony as “unnatural and socially unacceptable.”

Despite the condemnation, a source close to the couple, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “Chege and Ngengi are in love, and they have decided to ‘publicly declare their love’ within the legal framework of this country.”

Another Kenyan said, “It time the Kenyan community woke up to reality, some of us are gay; Kenyans have to get over it.”

Members of the LGBT community attended the ceremony, including a well-known Tanzanian model. Absent were the couple’s family members.

Chege, well known in the Kenyan community and openly gay for many years, was seen sporting an engagement ring while attending an exclusive social function in London with Ngengi, who arrived in London from Nairobi in mid-June and had been in a long-distance with Chegi.

The Kenyan public was stunned when in 2000 Chegi and his ex-boyfriend appeared on the cover of a local newspaper after attending Mardi Gras in London. The headline read “Murang’a Boy and His British Husband”. Murang’a is a district in Kenya.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya, punishable with 5-14 years in prison.