Description: 20 interviews with Kenyan and Ugandan Christian and Muslim leaders actively involved in struggles for LGBTIQ rights, presented and analysed by leading researchers and practitioners from Africa and the UK.
Brief description: David Kuria Mbote is an independent consultant and researcher and is executive director of the Kuria Foundation for Social Enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a leader of the Kenyan Gender and Sexual Minority rights movement. He also has researched religious leaders and LGBT inclusion in Kenya, publishing this work in journals such as Pastoral Psychology and Journal of Sex Research.
Review Quotes:
"Stories of Change offers a rare and compelling collection of voices that are too often absent from academic and public debates ... At a moment when discussions of religion and sexuality are frequently framed in terms of inevitability and conflict, the book's cautious optimism feels both timely and necessary." --Canadian Journal of African Studies
"For decades Africans have been fed a steady stream of loud, poisonous and alienating anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric from dogmatic religious leaders. This rare gem of a book gifts readers with the hitherto-muted voices of 24 religious leaders from E. Africa who have taken a strikingly different path from the mainstream; evoking empathy, love and compassion. To crown it all, they speak with dignity, intelligence and a calmness that is so refreshing and authentic. A must read." --Professor Sylvia Tamale, Ugandan Decolonial feminist Scholar "These 24 testimonies from East Africa surprise and delight. LGBTQI Christians, Muslims and allies counter exclusion and prejudice with narratives of resilience and hope. They offer compassionate insights into scriptural stories and the lives of faith they share. Collectively, the stories show an undercurrent in religious affiliation in East Africa that challenges dominant narratives." --Emma Wild-Wood, University of Edinburgh, UK