Kenya's High Court Upholds Punishments For Gay Sex : NPR

Contents:

• WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL
• KENYA'S JUDG UPHOLD LAWS THAT CRIMALIZE GAY SEX
• MAPPG ANTI-GAY LAWS AI
• WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

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

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".

KENYAN URT UPHOLDS LAW MAKG GAY SEX ILLEGAL

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". "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. Before the lg, Wagu Gaho, a human rights lawyer at the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn (NGLHRC), had said: “We are prepared for to be a protracted stggle. The ban was imposed by the Kenya Film Classifitn Board, which said the film was “rtricted due to s homosexual theme and clear tent to promote lbianism Kenya, ntrary to the law.

In allowg the film to be screened to willg adults, the judge said that Kenya is not a weak society whose morals would be weakened by watchg a gay-themed movie. Kenya’s Penal Co, which crimalis same-sex activy, will rema tact followg a High Court lg which rejected a petn llg for the crimalisatn of homosexualy the untry. The Nairobi lg followed two petns filed 2016 by three Kenyan LGBT anisatns: the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn, the Gay and Lbian Coaln of Kenya and Nyanza, Rift Valley and Wtern Kenya Network.

KENYA'S JUDG UPHOLD LAWS THAT CRIMALIZE GAY SEX

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)Censorship✖ State-enforcedNon-bary genr regnn✖ Intersex onlyDiscrimatn✖ Illegal some ntextsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Public OpnRearch atttus towards LGBTQ+ issu Kenya have intified a strong opposn to LGBTQ+ rights, reflectg unrlyg homophobic sentiments.

Current statSce Aug 1, 1930Illegal (imprisonment as punishment) Article 162, 163 and 165 prohibs homosexualy and offenr is punishable by up to 21 years prison wh hard labor and fSame-sex marriage Kenya?

MAPPG ANTI-GAY LAWS AI

It also requir the acmodatn of tersex children child protectn centers and other protectnsAs homosexualy is currently illegal, discrimatn agast LGBT persons are employment discrimatn Kenya? Current statSce Jan 1, 1941Illegal The Internatnal Lbian and Gay Associatn stat that homosexuals are not allowed to serve the Kenya Defence Forc, however, 's unclear if this is a wrten law and if so, when this law was 't Ask, Don't TellNo laws rtrictg or crimalizg lgbt donatns by MSMs Kenya? Kenya's High Court has chosen to uphold lonial-era laws that crimalize gay sex, dashg the hop of activists who believed the judg would overturn sectns of the penal as unnstutnal and spire a sea change across the ntent.

WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?

"We nnot be another Sodom and Gomorrah, " Catholic bishop Aled Rotich told Rters at the urthoe, as proponents held signs sayg "homosexualy is an abomatn. Kenya's Court of Appeal led last year that rryg out forced anal examatns on people charged spected of homosexualy vlated laws on cel and gradg treatment.

The move is dictated by very tolerant and tsive relig and cultural beliefs, ” said Kam Ngugi, the executive director of Defenrs Coaln, an umbrella group of rights anisatns and film classifitn body said last week that the film “blatantly” vlated the untry’s laws that penalise all forms of homosexualy or same-sex marriage, and that the storyle was a “clear and liberate attempt by the producer to promote same-sex marriage as an acceptable way of life” said the film sought to fluence viewers to believe that the “olr generatn that was once agast LGBTQ+ is slowly buyg to the practice and acceptg same-sex marriage” law crimalis anyone who engag what terms as “rnal knowledge of any person agast the orr of nature”. Mozambique recently removed the Portugue lonial-era laws that crimalised homosexual behavoir, removg a clse that outlawed 'vic agast nature'.

If the untry’s policians, clergy, self-anoted fenrs of “tradnal culture” and media are to be believed, the long-dread gay zombie apolypse is upon , brgg hors of satiable homosexuals hungry for our children’s imprsnable bras. Egged on by news anchors and edors keen to serve up drama and gore an effort to reta dienc, everyone om Print William Ruto to polil punds has been lg up to nmn the urt for upholdg verdicts by lower urts that the ernment uld not lawfully refe to register an anisatn llg self the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn (NGLHRC).

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

Long supprsed by lonial-era edicts that crimalised sex “agast the orr of nature” and Wtern ias about “Ain culture” that engenred vic homophobia, recent s, queer Kenyans have been phg back, refg to be forced back to the natnal closet. This has clud a ph to have the Brish-imposed lol versns of the 19th-century Indian Penal Co outlawg sexual acts “agast the orr of nature” – lonial for homosexualy – stck out as ntrary to Kenya’s 2010 nstutn, the untry’s first supreme law to be wholly drafted, negotiated and adopted by Kenyans.

It is important to note, as upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court, and ntrary to the assertns of some, that the arne text of the laws do not actually crimalise homosexualy or homosexual relatnships or even homosexual orientatn. However, when to addrsg the threat posed by “gayism” to the “Ain valu” tght to by Victorian lonialists, both sis of the polil divi are uned  rejectg the Supreme Court’s prerogativ. Even prr to the lg, MP Peter Kaluma had clared his tentn to troduce a law explicly crimalisg homosexualy wh penalti, cludg life imprisonment.