Ruto said the government respects the Supreme Court's 3-2 decision ruling but that "our culture and religion does not allow same-sex marriages."
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"It is not possible for our country Kenya to allow same-sex marriages. … It will happen in other countries but not in Kenya," he added.
Kenyan President William Ruto leaves the venue of a mini-summit on Peace and Security in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Feb. 17, 2023. Ruto recently criticized a Supreme Court ruling that allowed an activist to register an LGBTQ rights organization. (AMANUEL SILESHI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Supreme Court majority noted in its decision that same-sex marriages are illegal in Kenya.
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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.
An anti-LGBTQ group in the coastal city of Mombasa this week protested the Supreme Court's decision allowing a NGO focused on LGBTQ rights.
Kenya is largely a conservative and religious country. Ruto encouraged religious leaders Thursday to ramp up education to promote what he referred to as traditional values.