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personal story

    You'll see no faces and no names of gay East
    Africans on this website.  It isn't safe!
Personal Story No. 8
Gay and Christian in
KENYA, UGANDA,
TANZANIA, RWANDA
AND BURUNDI
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Counter
This website was constructed in July of 2007
Visits made to this web page since August 2007
Meet us under
the acacia tree.
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"I have other sheep that
are not of this fold.  I
must bring them in
also."John 10:16
Photo at right:
Gays telling their stories
to one antoher in the
Nairobi gated apartment
complex  where Steve
and Jose were staying.
Jose Ortiz, Other
Sheep Coordinator
for Africa
Steve Parelli, Other
Sheep Executive Director
Above photes:

Top Picture
Jose is leading one of the
many discussion groups
that met in our apartment.

Bottom Picture
Steve is teaching the
power point presentation
on the Bible and
Homosexuality from his
lap top.

Nairobi, Kenya
July, 2007
Everyone told me I was gay
so I thought I would try it

Rwandeese Man, Mid-Twenties
Submitted August 19, 2007

We might keep in touch afterwards if they are okay with our
differences regarding homosexuality. I do not believe in gay marriage
for example
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Why you'll
see no
pictures and
no names of
gay East
Africans on
this website:
"In October
2006, a local
newspaper
published a list of
names of
suspected gays
and lesbians. The
gay rigths group
says several
people whose
names appeared
on the list lost
jobs and were
mistreated by
their families."

    VISIT Steve and Jose!
    Visit the Other Sheep web site of  the Executive
    Director, Steve Parelli (at right in photo), and his
    partner Jose Ortiz.
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I started questioning myself seriously about gay life two years
ago . . .

    I am from Rwanda, Africa.  I am in my mid-twenties. A life story is
    not something one tells on one page but at least I will try and tell
    you something.  I started questioning myself seriously about gay
    life two years ago when I met a guy who is really intelligent which
    impresses me.  He wanted to protect himself so much; whenever
    I would do anything with him sexually he would be very
    aggressive afterwards. That might be because I do not want him
    to do all he would want me to do with him.  For me he's in
    denial.  He needs help.  One side was pushing him and then
    another side was pushing him.

Everyone told me I was gay so I thought I would try it . . .

    Since my tender age, people used to tell me I was gay.  But I
    was not concerned and did not understand.  That's not me;
    What are you talking about?  The biggest problem I had in my
    life is that I'm effeminate and it makes a big difference, and
    people make assumptions; people would run away and I would
    not understand, so I realized people thought I was gay.  So I
    thought I would try the experience and see if I was gay. Given
    that I was rejected by the straight world. But when I tried I felt
    empty. I realized there are things I cannot do with a man
    however much I forced myself to try.  I do not see any future
    between me and another man in marriage for instance.

I like to caress with a real friend of the same sex . . .

    I can caress with a real friend of the same sex, if they really want
    me to, as I would do something for a friend just to make them
    happy. This is done in the way I can be asked from a friend to
    cook for them, help them with their work, but there is nothing like
    a special gratification I get from caressing. Penetration either
    way is out of question.  But if my friend did not appreciate that I
    would feel humiliated.

I don't believe in gay marriage . . .

    As a Catholic person I don't believe in gay marriage because
    there was not Adam and Steve, there was Adam and Eve in the
    times of creation. That is for a purpose. I strongly believe in
    complementarity which is like men have what women do not
    have and vice versa.  And that a man and a woman should join
    together in marriage.  If they have gay marriage they should call
    it civil union or something like that.  They should not call it gay
    marriage because the word marriage should refer to the union
    of a man and a woman in order to perpetuate human kind.

. . . Jose Ortiz of Other Sheep  found me on the Internet on Hi5
and wrote me . . . The Spanish language was our real connection

    I became connected with Other Sheep through Jose Ortiz who
    found me on the Internet on Hi5 and wrote me.  He was
    interested in me because I speak Spanish here in Africa.  Jose
    wanted to write me about my Spanish.  Jose gave me the
    website of Other Sheep and when I read it I discovered he was a
    married gay person. I wrote him and asked him if he really
    believes that one can be gay and Christian.   I sent him verses
    from Awake about homosexuality.  The verses were from
    Leviticus and from Romans, I guess.   We didn't talk about these
    verses through email, but we did go on corresponding in
    general, writing in Spanish.  Spanish was our real connection.

I got to meet Jose and Other Sheep by traveling to Kampala,
Uganda, where he was with his partner  . . .

    When Jose was in Kenya, he invited me to come from Rwanda
    to Kampala, Uganda, to meet him there and offered to finance
    my trip, as I had told him about my financial situation. For the
    first time in my life I believed a total stranger. I do not know why,
    but I did believe him and took the first long trip of my whole life,
    alone in a country I have never been to meet total strangers
    from the other side of the world.  Because he was already
    coupled with a partner, I felt secure and wanted to come and
    meet them both. That's how I met them and learned about the
    Other Sheep more.

I will keep in touch with Jose and Steve if they are okay with our
differences regarding homosexuality . . .

    Jose and Steve are partners for ten years now and are both
    theologians. We might keep in touch afterwards if they are okay
    with our differences regarding homosexuality. I do not believe in
    gay marriage for example and doubt about the fact that it is just
    not an obsession or some kind of curable psychological
    disorder grounded in one's background like lack of male
    companionship in the younger age for men. That being said I
    am not homophobic, tolerance is the golden rule if humankind is
    to survive and overcome issues like racism, gender based
    discrimination as well as any other discrimination.
This page was archived March 2011 and is part of the Other Sheep East Africa archived pages.  
This page serves as part of an historical record of Other Sheep in Africa from July 2007 - February 2011
For current information regarding Other Sheep in Africa,
go to Other Sheep in Africa.
This is an ARCHIVED PAGE
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