Kenya polil mpaign puts gay taboo spotlight | Rters

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS KENYA: 'WHY OUR FIGHT ISN'T OVER'
• KENYA'S FIRST GAY POLIL NDIDATE REVEALS WHY HE QU RACE
• FIRST OPENLY GAY POLICIAN SEEKS SEAT KENYA’S NEW SENATE
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• KENYA POLICIAN SAYS 'NO ROOM FOR GAYS' UNTRY
• KENYA POLIL MPAIGN PUTS GAY TABOO SPOTLIGHT
• KENYAN POLIL PARTY PH ANTI-GAY BILL DPE SOME GAS FOR LGBT COMMUNY
• KENYAN PAPER SHAMED FOR ITS 'TOP GAYS' LIST

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

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.

Image source, Gee Wafula/BBCImage ptn, Judg led May that the lonial-era law crimalisg gay sex is not unnstutnalSeated a stairwell, other iends and I listened to the lg beg read out. But David Kuria, forced to whdraw om electns Kenya, has already smashed barriers as the untry's first openly gay dismayed his supporters when he announced that he uld not fish the senate race bee of a lack of funds to ver logistics and his personal secury. He had received threateng text msag sayg he would brg "a curse to the land", while he lost the battle, Kuria has won praise for movg the needle a untry which homosexualy is illegal and, the UN noted last year, "largely nsired to be taboo and repugnant to [the] cultural valu and moraly" 40-year-old was the first openly gay black person Ai to n for polil office outsi South Ai, acrdg to the Kaleidospe Tst, a non-prof anisatn fendg ternatnal lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) rights.

A bet mister, Mos Wetangula, warned of a revolt if Kuria was elected, sayg an openly gay man should not "have an opportuny or privilege to lead a untry that is found on relig moraly" pennt ndidate was sent hostile text msag attemptg to blow him off urse. Image source, Getty ImagKenyan thori were wrong to ban the gay muny om registerg a rights anisatn, the untry's Supreme Court has at the same time strsed that gay sex remas judg led three-to-two that the untry's NGO board was wrong to stop the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn (NGLHRC) om registerg Kenya's hight urt, the Supreme Court's lg nnot be their judgment, the judg led that " would be unnstutnal to lim the right to associate, through nial of registratn of an associatn, purely on the basis of the sexual orientatn of the applints".

KENYA'S FIRST GAY POLIL NDIDATE REVEALS WHY HE QU RACE

Laws which were troduced unr Brish lonial le mean that is crimal to have sex that "is agast the orr of nature", which n rult up to 14 years May 2019, Kenya's high urt rejected an attempt to overturn the 's judgement ends a 10-year legal battle which began 2013 when Eric Gari, the former executive director of the NGLHRC, challenged the head of Kenya NGO Coordatn Board's refal to perm him to apply to register an NGO unr a name ntag the words gay or lbian. On the day of the judgement, Member of Parliament Gee Peter Kaluma filed an official notice that he tend to troduce a bill which would jail for life people nvicted of homosexualy or the promotn of Friday's Supreme Court lg arguably torpedo any attempts to legally harass openly gay people wh new laws, Mr Kaluma n still rally MPs to crease jail terms for gay is also illegal to have gay sex neighbourg Uganda, where Mlim lears ed Friday prayers to preach agast head of the untry's Mlims, Mufti Sheikh Ramathan Mubajje, lled on the thori to enact even tougher laws agast same-sex was speakg at the Old Kampala mosque the pal, Kampala, where hundreds had gathered for Friday prayers. Earlier the week, the Uganda Mlim Supreme Council circulated a letter to all clerics unr s associatn gazettg Friday as the day to rry out peaceful protts agast homosexualy clerics were asked to prepare sermons nmng same-sex relatns and extend the same msage to the media and the event, the protts were only held the eastern cy of rights activist Frank Mugisha scribed the protts as dangero, sayg they uld crease s of vlence agast those who intify as has been a recent surge homophobic sentiment the week, Print Yoweri Meveni said Uganda would not embrace homosexualy and that the Wt should stop tryg to impose s views and "normalise" what he lled "viatns".

Edw Chiloba was a fighter, fightg relentlsly to change the hearts and mds of society when me to LGBTQ+ liv, ” GALCK, a Kenyan gay rights group, said on a Brish lonial-era law, gay sex Kenya is punishable by 14 years prison.

A member of the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr (LGBT) seen reactg after Kenya's High Court led to uphold the Brish-era penal that crimalis gay sex (Photo: 24 May 2019)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.

FIRST OPENLY GAY POLICIAN SEEKS SEAT KENYA’S NEW SENATE

"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. 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".

It fuels some kd of vlence that now people are planng but holdg back on, " she tells 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 's Mormon founr Sharon Slater ni that the group promot anti-gay laws Ai.

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

"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 's LGBTQ muny has been wagg a long-nng mpaign to mand equal rightsAlthough Mr Kaluma attend the meetg Uganda -sponsored by FWI, he ni workg wh the group on his bill, which he says will propose a ban on teachg CSE sayg is part of the "LGBTQ agenda".

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).

KENYA POLICIAN SAYS 'NO ROOM FOR GAYS' UNTRY

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. Like the young Roper Robert Bolt’s two-act play, A Man For All Seasons, seems the Kenyan ele are happy to “cut a great road through the law to get after the [gay] Devil”.

KENYA POLIL MPAIGN PUTS GAY TABOO SPOTLIGHT

The irony of g lonial laws to fend “Ain culture” agast the spectre of rptn by wh is evintly lost on the anti-gay briga, who mistakenly sist that LGBTQ rights are a uniquely Wtern ventn.

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. "Kenya's puty print jos an important tradn by Ains power to spread hate church on a Sunday, " Byavanga Waana, a proment Kenyan wrer who is openly gay, said on his Twter acunt. KIAMBU, Kenya (Rters) - An anti-poverty mpaigner has bee Kenya’s first openly gay man to n for polil office, but David Kuria Mbote fac a challengg path as he tri to dispel taboos the largely nservative Christian natn a race for a senate elected to the Kenyan senate, Mbote, 40, would be Ai’s only openly homosexual black man to hold natnal office, acrdg to the Kaleidospe Tst, a non-prof anizatn focg on gay a bet mister warned of a “revolt’ if Mbote were elected, a clear sign that attus towards the gay muny Kenya, reflected across much of Ai, rema vehemently anti-gay.

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

Homosexualy is illegal most Ain untri and same-sex relatnships are often seen as a Wtern fad and an afont to tradnal Ain culture and moral Kenyan law, homosexual acts are punishable by up to 14 years prison, but police say they would have to tch someone the act to prosecute Uganda and Malawi tried to troduce tough anti-homosexualy laws, outraged Wtern donors threatened to cut aid, ptg them agast fiery lol policians and Ain church lears. Neighborg Uganda is planng to pass an anti-gay law, cricized by rights groups for s dranian penalti, cludg life imprisonment certa the threats have done ltle to fluence mostly anti-gay attus the hight levels of Tra Mister Mos Wetangula has warned there would be a “revolt” if voters elected Mbote, tellg the BBC that homosexualy “simply don’t fly” openly gay man should not “have an opportuny or privilege to lead a untry that is found on relig moraly”, Wetangula said reference to Mbote, who is nng as an pennt ndidate.

6 ln habants to ’s ndidacy has been vered by all the major Kenyan newspapers, though the foc has been on his sexual orientatn rather than his 5-pot policy plan on how he would are no official timat of how many Kenyans are gay but anecdotal evince suggts those who are openly gay Kenya’s smopolan pal Nairobi has the bpectacled polician - who was earlier this month given an award by the ernment for his work on rcg stigma towards HIV sufferers - feels the only relevance of homosexualy to his senate bid is “honty”.

KENYAN PAPER SHAMED FOR ITS 'TOP GAYS' LIST

A 2011 survey by the Kenya Human Rights Commissn (KHRC) found that only 18 percent of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgenr Kenyans had revealed their sexual orientatn to their fai.

Mbote better known for beg a -founr of the Kenya Gay and Lbian Coaln, which he head for ten years ma his mark the untry as the first openly gay polician when he vied for the Kiambu unty senate seat. 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.