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.
Contents:
- LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
- LOBBY GROUPS WANT KENYA-US TRA AL HALTED OVER ANTI-GAY BILL
- KENYA SAFE HAVENS AT RISK WH DRANIAN ANTI-GAY BILL
- KENYAN POLIL PARTY PH ANTI-GAY BILL DPE SOME GAS FOR LGBT COMMUNY
- KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL
- ‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW
- ‘DEEPLY TROUBLG': UN RIGHTS CHIEF ON UGANDA ANTI-GAY BILL
LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
* gay bill in kenya *
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.
LOBBY GROUPS WANT KENYA-US TRA AL HALTED OVER ANTI-GAY BILL
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. 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. 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.
KENYA SAFE HAVENS AT RISK WH DRANIAN ANTI-GAY BILL
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.
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. The lawmaker not that homosexualy, same-sex marriag and other so-lled unnatural sexual acts go agast “public moraly” that threaten the fay un unr Article 45 of Kenya’s nstutn, which regniz marriage as between people of the oppose sex.
KENYAN POLIL PARTY PH ANTI-GAY BILL DPE SOME GAS FOR LGBT COMMUNY
The move to curb homosexualy Kenya through the new law barely three months after more than 300 LGBTQ refuge at Kakuma mp lnched an onle signature llectn iative to petn the thori to stop discrimatn, torture and mistreatment. The proposed law, the latt a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn troduced across Ai, would expel refuge and asylum seekers who intify as gay, addn to metg out punishment for an exhstive list of other “immoral” or abettg offens.
In Febary, the Kenyan Supreme Court led that the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn uld register as a non-ernmental anizatn there, sparkg outrage among nservative lawmakers and Print William Ruto, who orred his ernment’s attorney general to challenge the urt’s cisn as a vlatn of Kenyan and moral law.
KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL
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.
The cisn, which tegorized lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people as protected mori, was a rponse to a 2013 petn by the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn, which had unsuccsfully tried five tim to register as a formal group.
While would also implement harsher penalti — cludg up to 10 years prison for people found guilty of "the offense of homosexualy" or those who "holds out as a lbian, gay, transgenr, a queer, or any other sexual or genr inty that is ntrary to the bary tegori of male and female. Acrdg to the new bill — as well as leavg anyone nvicted of "homosexualy" facg up to 10 years prison — a person who is nvicted of what the bill refers to as “aggravated homosexualy” uld face the ath penalty certa circumstanc, cludg for "serial offenrs", or for anyone havg same sex-relatns wh a person wh a disabily.
‘WE WILL HUNT YOU’: UGANDANS FLEE AHEAD OF HARSH ANTI-GAY LAW
Addnally, media and journalists face prosecutn or imprisonment if they publish, broadst, or distribute any ntent that "promot homosexualy” the bill is still unrgog chang, some Ugandan MPs have shared their cricism of llg “unnstutnal” and argug that the offens crimaliz are already vered the untry's of crimal law. World lears, LGBTQ+ activists, and human rights anizatns have been quick to rpond wh their disapproval of the bill, llg for Print Meveni to rensir and reject the new Anti-Homosexualy Act passed by the Ugandan Parliament yterday would unrme fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and uld reverse gas the fight agast HIV/AIDS.
What’s more is that while Uganda has ma stris towards the eraditn of HIV, wh the number of AIDS-related aths creasg by 60% sce 2010, UNAIDS rearch shows that sub-Saharan Ai (a regn that clus Uganda) the chanc of gay men and other men who have sex wh men ntractg HIV is five tim higher untri that crimalize same-sex sexual activy pared to those that do not. SummarySome Kenyan MPs ph for Uganda-style anti-gay lawSiar mov afoot Tanzania and South SudanBill would end Kenya's stat as regnal LGBT havenAt Nairobi's Pri event, fear and tight securyNAIROBI, June 22 (Rters) - Mohamed 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-LGBT 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.
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 LGBT 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. "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.
‘DEEPLY TROUBLG': UN RIGHTS CHIEF ON UGANDA ANTI-GAY BILL
"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 PRIDEThe 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.