The journey to have the gays and lesbians community in Kenya recognized may have just started following Friday's major ruling by Appeals Court of Kenya.
Largely a Christian community which bans same sex marriage, gays and lesbians have had it rough in the country in their efforts to have at least even an umbrella body that protects their constitutional rights.
And through a majority decision, the community will now go ahead and register and umbrella body after several years of running court battles which saw NGO Coordination Body and AG opposing their attempt.
This position was taken by judges Philip Waki, Asike Makhandia and Martha Koome while affirming the decision of the High Court.Justice Waki pointed out that the LGBT community has a right to freedom of association and that the criminal procedure code does not criminalise those that want to form such a group.
"The issue of LGBT is rarely discussed in public. But it cannot be doubted that it is an emotive issue, the reality is that this group does exit and we can no longer deny that,” said Justice Waki.
The judge added: “Let it go down that I will not be the first to throw a stone and harm them."
However, Justice Daniel Musinga and Roselyn Nambuye dissented saying such a case had the capacity of destroying the cultural values of Kenyans, and should not be allowed.
The petition had been filed by Mr Eric Gitari who had alleged discrimination among other grounds. He is the co-founder of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
In 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta openly refused to join the gay, lesbians communities debate when visiting then US President Barack Obama tried to push the agenda at Nairobi State House.