Homosexuals and family

According to that fount of knowledge, Wiktionary, the following definition applies to the noun "family":

family (countable and uncountable; plural families)

1. (countable) A father, mother and their sons and daughters; also called nuclear family. Our family lives in town.
2. (countable) A group of people related by blood, marriage, law, or custom.
3. (countable) A kin, tribe; also called extended family.
4. (countable, biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below order and above genus; a taxon at that rank. Magnolias belong to the family Magnoliaceae.  
* 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page 4


The closest affinities of the Jubulaceae are with the Lejeuneaceae. The two families share in common: (a) elaters usually 1-spiral, trumpet-shaped and fixed to the capsule valves, distally […]
5. (countable) A group of people who live together, or one that is similar to one that is related by blood, marriage, law, or custom, or members of one's intimate social group.

This is my fraternity family at the university.Our company is one big happy family.They treated me like family.
6. (countable) Any group or aggregation of things classed together as kindred or related from possessing in common characteristics which distinguish them from other things of the same order.
7. (countable, music) A group of instrument having the same basic method of tone production.

the brass family; the violin family
8. (countable, linguistics) A group of languages believed to have descended from the same ancestral language.

the Indo-European language family; the Afro-Asiatic language family
9. Used attributively.

The dog was kept as a family pet. For Apocynaceae, this type of flower is a family characteristic.

When the Minister for Special Programmes, Esther Murugi Mathenge (PNU, Nyeri Town) suggested, in the contest of addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, that we should include persons of the homosexual persuasion in government interventions, she stirred a hornets nest and was subsequently for her statements by the members of the religious right as well as conservative African traditionalists who wish to deny that Africa has any homosexuals. Prof. Makau Mutua, whom I have disagreed with because of his stand on several constitutional issues, is on record asking that before Kenyans react 'emotionally' to the statements attributed to the minister, we should consider that homosexuals are people too and that they also enjoy the benefit of the protections of the Constitution of Kenya.

Living in my urban cocoon and having travelled outside the country, my perspective on the issue is coloured by my cosmopolitan experience. I have no doubt that on a moral plane, the men and women who are active homosexuals, that is, those who have and carry on homosexual relationships, are headed to hell. However, I also know that the world is not composed only of fundamentalist Christians or Muslims or African conservative traditionalists, but that it also contains atheists, heretics, anarchists and all manner of persons, who enjoy inherent rights, rights that cannot be abrogated by the desire of the majority to maintain its way of life. Changing social mores have greatly modified the interpretation of various portions of religious scripture. For instance, we are all agreed that it is unlawful to prevent a man and a woman from marrying simply because they are from differing races, religions or tribes. However, in Kenya, we still subscribe partially to this when we allow that Marriage Act and the African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act to remain in our statute books. Indeed, until late into the Twentieth Century, interracial marriages in that bastion of freedom, the United States, were punishble by law and it was not until the Loving case that the US Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to prevent interracial couples from entering into the institution of marriage. Similarly, we will frown on any person or nation that still holds that it is possible to hold people as slaves. The work of abolitionists in Europe and the United States have shown that slavery is a stain on humanity and unconstitutional. In these instances, inhumane interpretations of the bible have been abandoned and new ones have replaced them. It is time the definition of family also underwent such a fundamental change.

In today's world, it is possible for a family to consist of non-traditional combinations: single mothers, single fathers, parents of adopted children, interracial couples, multi-ethnic or multi-religious couples, childless families, etc. Why is the spectre of same-sex couples being pilloried as unnatural? Because the bible says so? Whether we will admit it or not, Kenyan society has undergone fundamental changes, especially in the last twenty years. More and more people are choosing to act in ways that their forefathers would have found 'unnatural'. For instance, nowadays there is much being debated about the concept of privacy. This would have been difficult to perpetrate when the extended family and the village played such a crucial role in individuals' lives. The family then was the last place an individual could claim a right to privacy, where even matters between husband and wife were the legitimate subjects of the village. However, today, it would be impossible even for the state to interfere in the marital affairs of a couple except where one of the couples was at risk of abuse or injury.

People have the right to lead their lives as they see fit. However, they have no right to impose their interpretations of moral law on anyone. If a man wishes to bend over for another man, it is inevitable that God will punish them without mercy; however, it is not my place to prevent them from living their life as they wish. The only rule is that as they live their lives, they should do so such that I am not injured or at risk of injury. Parents have right to raise their children as they see fit; but once their children have flown the coop as adults, their parents will find it very difficult to impose upon them their will. In today's world the influence of media on people is so pervasive that it is impossible to prevent an individual from coming into contact with new ideas or mores. Wishing away homosexuality is akin to wishing for the return of the 17the Century, where the flow of ideas was more easily controlled. Kenya must keep pace with its citizens or there will be disruptions in the future. The state has more important things to fight, like hunger, terrorism, disease and poverty, than to hound and harass men and women who have chosen an alternative life for themselves.