Members of Kenyan LGBTQ Community Bid Farewell to Author Binyavanga Wainaina [PHOTOS]

Members of the Kenyan LGBTQ community turned up in large numbers to pay tribute to author Binyavanga Wainaina.

A memorial for the openly gay activist was held on Wednesday at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi, a day after his body was cremated at the Kariakor Crematorium.

Men wearing bell sleeve jumpsuits were pictured at the ceremony as they bid farewell to the 48-year-old author, who was set to marry his Nigerian gay lover this year. Some ladies donned dapper men’s wear.

The award-winning writer passed away at a Nairobi hospital last week after suffering stroke.

The 2002 Caine Prize winner for African Writing was the founder of the Nairobi-based journal Kwani.

Binyavanga hit media headlines in January 2014 when he publicly announced that he was gay.

“Nobody, nobody, ever in my life has heard this. I am a homosexual, mum,” said Wainaina at the time.

He later tweeted: “I am, for anybody confused or in doubt, a homosexual. Gay, and quite happy.”

Binyavanga, who revealed that he was HIV positive in 2016, was set to wed his Nigerian lover early this year. 

"I asked my love for his hand in marriage two weeks ago. He said yes, nearly immediately. He is Nigerian. we will be living in South Africa, where he will be studying next year. We will get married there, early next year. We will have a reception for Kenyans in Nairobi sometime next year too. Nothing has surprised me more than coming to love this person, who is gentle and has the most gorgeous heart. I consider myself hugely lucky that he loves me and I have only recently fallen in love with him, but we have known each other and have been dating on and off since 2012," he announced in a tweet last year.

It is not clear whether the wedding happened.

Wainaina first suffered a stroke at his Nairobi home in October 2015 and was taken to India for treatment.