Malawi Church Leaders Meet on Gay Rights
Just days before a court verdict that could send Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, to jail for 14 years, Malawi church leaders announced they had met to “understand the phenomenon” of same-sex partners.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga have been held since December 26th on charges of public indecency for their same-sex wedding. The couple conducted a “traditional, but symbolic” ceremony, were arrested two days later, and have the been the subject of intense protest by human rights groups and Western donors in Malawi.
From AP:
Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe, head of the Malawi Council of Churches, says the leaders gathered Wednesday in the southern town of Mangochi to discuss homosexuality as an issue “most Malawians do not understand.”
Blantyre magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa is scheduled to deliver a verdict Monday to the Malawi couple.
