Lobby groups want Kenya-US tra al halted over anti-gay bill

kenya gay bill

Mohamed Ali don't believe gay Ains exist. He says homosexualy is a Wtern ventn imposed on the ntent. Openly gay Ains are liars seekg visas to the Wt or money om rights groups, he adds.

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

In Kenya, where 90 percent of rints oppose the acceptance of gay rights, gay acts are punishable by 14 years prison. But for one polil party, that is not nearly enough. While gay people this year were formally granted the right to form polil and welfare groups, the Republin Liberty Party wants gay Kenyans imprisoned for life and gay foreigners stoned to ath. Activists om the LGBT muny dismiss the party's bill as irrelevant, but adm some are worried. * kenya gay bill *

In the latt sign of risg homophobia different Ain untri, a Kenyan opposn MP is leadg a mpaign for parliament to further crimalise the untry's small LGBTQ 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" I met Mr Kaluma - a member of veteran Kenyan opposn polician Raila Odga's Orange Democratic Movement - he was stg behd his sk at his office the pal Nairobi, proof-readg and makg rrectns to a bill that he tends to table parliament soon. "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 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. "The bill will propose a total ban on what the Wt lls sex-reassignment prcriptns and procr, and prohib all activi that promote homosexualy, terms of...

Gay paras, drag shows, wearg the lours, the flags, the emblems of the LGBTQ group, " Mr Kaluma 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 Kaluma tells me he wants their asylum to be revoked, and for them to leave a small, hidn church set up to offer fort and support to LGBTQ people central Nairobi, the female pastor says Mr Kaluma's bill is g "a lot of panic, anxiety, fear". Although 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".

LOBBY GROUPS WANT KENYA-US TRA AL HALTED OVER ANTI-GAY BILL

"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 's Mormon founr Sharon Slater ni that the group promot anti-gay laws Ai.

"Fay Watch oppos legislatn that penalis a person for havg sexual attractns or for how they intify, " she says an emailed rponse to the Slater addrsed Ain lawmakers, clerics and mpaigners at their fom Uganda's laki cy of Entebbe March, and later appeared a group photo wh Print Meveni at his official more than 20 years, Mrs Slater has lobbied ernments on what she lls "fay valu" and has ma her missn to mpaign agast children and young people beg given Comprehensive Sexualy Edutn (CSE), a curriculum-based sex tn programme champned by the Uned Natns and other c a Uned Natns Populatn Fund (UNFPA) manual for out-of-school youths east and southern Ai, sayg promot homosexualy and is too explic. "It sensis children to sex, " she Slater also quot om the manual, cludg l which say that facilators of lsons should have "a ntral, acceptg attu towards homosexualy" I ntact Maria Bakaroudis, UNFPA's CSE specialist for east and southern Ai, for ment, she says she is not keen to talk about the "opposn", as she refers to adds that the manual is only a guile, and each untry n tailor to su their Bakaroudis fends CSE, sayg provis "life-savg rmatn" to curb high rat of untend pregnanci, HIV, and sexually transmted diseas. Amid the ongog Strategic Tra and Invtment Partnership (STIP) talks between Kenya and the Uned Stat of Ameri, 49 US lobby groups have e out to ask the US ernment to halt the negotiatns until Kenya revok any anti-gay laws the untry.

The Fay Protectn Bill proposed by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma seeks to crimalize homosexualy, same-sex marriag, and LGBTQ passed, the bill will crimalise the promotn, recment, and fundg of homosexualy and a letter addrsed to Uned Stat Tra Reprentative Ambassador Kathere Tai, who's currently Kenya for the STIP negotiatns, the lobby groups ll on the Bin admistratn to halt the negotiatns until Print William Ruto veto any anti-gay law. The lobby groups attributed their ll for actn on that the proposed anti-gay bill go agast the prcipl and valu that the Bin admistratn stands for.

KENYA SAFE HAVENS AT RISK WH DRANIAN ANTI-GAY BILL

Peter Kaluma, through his bill further wants the state to lim rights to assembly, monstratn, associatn, exprsn, belief, privacy, and employment childre stutns rpect of homosexual nvicts. The bill if passed will see the penalty imposed on homosexuals rangg om imprisonment of at least 10 years to ath.

NIGERIAN POLICE ARRT MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE AT GAY WEDDG

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.

Print Joe Bin to spend talks on a bilateral tra al wh Kenya until the Ain natn's print veto dranian anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn spired by Uganda's new "Kill the Gays" law. Kenya's so-lled Fay Protectn Act would crimalize same-sex sexual acts between nsentg adults wh a mimum of 10 years prison while imposg the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexualy, " fed as "engagg homosexual acts wh a mor or disabled person and transmtg a termal disease through sexual means. We have no room for gays and the others, " and March he cricized a lg by the natn's hight urt allowg an activist to officially register an LGBTQ+ rights group.

Ali do not believe gay Ains exist—spe a rich history of LGBTQ+ people on the world's longt-habed ntent.

KENYAN POLIL PARTY PH ANTI-GAY BILL DPE SOME GAS FOR LGBT COMMUNY

While Ali says homosexualy is a Wtern ventn forced upon Ains, was actually European powers that outlawed same-sex relatns durg lonizatn.

In May, Yoweri Meveni, print of neighborg Uganda, signed to law a siar bill crimalizg same-sex sexual acts between nsentg adults and imposg the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexualy.

LGBTQ+ prottors outsi of the Milimani High Court after the urt upheld lonial era laws crimalizg gay sex at Nairobi, Kenya on May 24, 2019Photo: Shutterstock.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* KENYA GAY BILL

Lobby groups want Kenya-US tra al halted over anti-gay bill .

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