Queerphobia Kenya: a supreme urt lg on gay rights triggers a new wave of anger agast the LGBTIQ+ muny

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS KENYA: 'WHY OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER'
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL
• KENYA TO LE ON GAY RIGHTS AS AIN NEIGHBOURS LOOK ON
• KENYA’S HIGH COURT UPHOLDS A BAN ON GAY SEX

GAY RIGHTS KENYA: 'WHY OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER'

It is the culmatn of a -long legal battle, and a victory for the LGBTQ+ a majory cisn, the urt led that the non-ernmental ordatn board was discrimatory and ged on the muny’s nstutnal right to associatn by refg to register any of six nam proposed by the muny’s reprentativ, among them the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn and the Gay and Lbian Human Rights ernment body had said that permtg registratn would ntravene sectns of the untry’s penal that crimalise gay and lbian unns, cludg a Brish lonial law layg down a 14-year sentence for anyone nvicted of homosexual acts. “There may be many people who are stgglg wh different kds of sexual sir but they have not gone to urt for the whole natn to regnise them, ” stat the church, which has a large followg Kenya’s urban Kenyan church lked the urt’s lg to the recent cisn by the Church of England to wele same-sex upl “unrervedly and joyfully” Kaluma, an MP allied to the opposn, vowed to table a bill parliament to prohib homosexualy and impose stiffer penalti, cludg life prison, for those engaged same sex lg will be a btersweet victory for the LGBTQ+ muny Kenya, whose members have been subject to harassment, excln and vlence.

I am source, Gee Wafula/BBCImage ptn, The law banng gay sex is specific to men but activists say that lbian, bi, trans and non-bary voic are val this nversatnBut there many dividuals om the muny who have experienced physil and verbal vlence and var forms of discrimatn.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May. The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law.

Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.

WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia". "It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. Queer rights monstrators prott durg a rally Nairobi, Kenya, Ochieng / SOPA Imag/LightRocket via Getty Imag fileJune 23, 2023, 3:08 PM UTC / Source: RtersMohamed Ali don’t believe gay Ains exist.

“I will ask them to take me to vote for that, to kick them out, kick LGBT people out of Kenya pletely, ” he after Uganda enacted one of the most dranian anti-LGBTQ laws on Earth, Kenya uld be poised to follow su wh a siarly formulated bill that punish gay sex wh prison or even ath some s, acrdg to a draft of the law and two lawmakers backg parliament.

KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL

Some regnal lawmakers ame the issue as an almost existential battle to save Ain valu and sovereignty, which they say have been battered by Wtern prsure to pulate on gay draft of Kenya’s Fay Protectn Bill, seen by Rters, mirrors many aspects of the Ugandan law, which was signed by Print Yoweri Meveni at the end of May to the dismay of the LGBTQ muny, human rights mpaigners and Wtern sex is punishable by at least 10 years jail unr the proposed Kenyan law, while “aggravated homosexualy, ” which clus gay sex wh a mor or disabled person or when a termal disease is passed on, brgs the ath penalty.

KENYA TO LE ON GAY RIGHTS AS AIN NEIGHBOURS LOOK ON

Meanwhile, Tanzanian lawmaker Jacquele Ngonyani said she planned to troduce a private motn parliament later this year to clamp down on gay activy an attempt to “ntrol the ongog moral y. A gay Ugandan refugee shows his srs om an attack on the street Kenya, Inganga / AP filePrint William Ruto, an evangelil Christian, has cricized a Febary supreme urt cisn allowg an LGBT rights group to register as a non-ernmental anizatn.

“We nnot travel the road of women marryg their fellow women and men marryg their fellow men, ” he said at the proposed Kenyan law reflects a signifint gree of agreement and ordatn on anti-gay polici between lawmakers across the regn, acrdg to the draft of the bill as well as Rters terviews wh the Kenyan MPs and activists. Several new crim appear both Uganda’s law and the proposed Kenyan one, cludg the aggravated homosexualy offense, “promotg” homosexualy and allowg gay sex on your property, which affects landlords. “The Uned Stat advanc efforts around the globe to protect LGBTQI+ persons om vlence and abe, crimalizatn, discrimatn, and stigma, and to empower lol LGBTQI+ movements and persons, ” the spokperson said rponse to qutns about this reigns at Nairobi PriThe Kenyan bill would toughen up a lonial-era statute unr which gay sex was already illegal, though the olr, ls tailed law was rarely proposed law would signal the ath knell for Kenya’s stat as a place of relative refuge for gay people East Ai as the only untry the regn to host refuge fleeg persecutn bee they are draft bill stipulat that no one should be granted asylum on grounds of persecutn lked to sexual orientatn.

KENYA’S HIGH COURT UPHOLDS A BAN ON GAY SEX

Anticipatn of the new legislatn, and the anti-gay rhetoric polics and the media om public figur such as Ali and Kaluma that has acpanied , is already stg a chill over the LGBTQ muny, acrdg to anizers of the Pri event Nairobi this Kacha, one of the anizers, said that unlike prev years the lotn was not disclosed advance out of fear that anti-gay activists would target the event. “Kenya as a untry don’t feel like home anymore, ” she advot and opponents of the Fay Protectn Bill say has a good chance of beg law, boosted by the enactment of the Ugandan law and well-anized and fanced anti-LGBTQ polil Dias, executive director of the Gay and Lbian Coaln of Kenya, also ced last year’s electn of Ruto. (Nairobi) – Kenya’s High Court on May 24, 2019 upheld laws crimalizg homosexual acts between nsentg adults, a step backward the progrs Kenya has ma toward equaly recent years, Human Rights Watch said today.

Two other anizatns, the Gay and Lbian Coaln of Kenya (GALCK) and the Nyanza, Rift Valley and Wtern Kenya Network (NYARWEK), along wh dividual petners who had been personally affected by the laws, filed a send petn raisg siar arguments.

After police arrted two people and subjected them to forced anal examatns 2015, the Court of Appeal led 2018 that rryg out the examatns on people charged wh nsensual homosexual nduct vlated the prohibn on torture and cel, human, and gradg treatment.