Killg of LGBTQ+ activist prompts outcry over anti-gay attacks Kenya | Kenya | The Guardian

Contents:

• WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• IS KENYA ABOUT TO FOLLOW UGANDA WH STRICT ANTI-GAY LEGISLATN?
• KENYANS WHO HAVE OPENLY ADMTED TO BEG MEMBERS OF LGBTQ FAY SHARE PENINAH WAMBUI ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST LIFTYLE 04 JUNE 2021 FORMER BBC JOURNALIST MAKENA NJERI IMAGE: INSTAGRAM FORMER BBC JOURNALIST MAKENA NJERI IMAGE: INSTAGRAM IN THE RECENT PAST MORE AND MORE KENYANS HAVE BOLDLY OPENED UP ON BEG MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ MUNY.LGBTQ STANDS FOR LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR, AND QUEER.BELOW ARE SOME OF THE KENYANSNJERI MAKENAEX BBC REPORTER MAKENA NJERI RECENTLY OPENED UP ON BEG GAY.'ACRDG TO NJERI SHE HAS ALWAYS KNOWN SHE WAS DIFFERENT BUT WAS NEVER URAGEO ENOUGH TO STAND BY HER TTH.IN A VIO POSTED BY AN TERNATNAL MEDIA PLATFORM, TEDX ON BEHALF OF TEDX PARKLANDS, MAKENA SAID HAD TAKEN YEARS FOR HER TO ACCEPT AND ADM THE FACT TO HERSELF.THE FORMER 'TAHIDI HIGH' ACTRS SAID FOR THE LAST , SHE STGGLED TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE, "NFORMG TO THE DIFFERENT SOCIETAL NORMS THAT HAVE BEEN PLACED ON OM A VERY YOUNG AGE"."AT 19 YEARS OLD, G TO THE CY, I WANTED TO ACT AND BEE A SUPERSTAR FEATURG DIFFERENT TV SHOWS. BUT I KNEW FOR A FACT THAT THE BATTL I HAD BEEN GOG THROUGH AS A TEENAGER WILL BE TTED THIS CY. I REALISED THAT WHAT SOCIETY WANTED ME TO TAKE WASN'T THE SE FOR HUMANY AND ME," SHE SAID. "I REMEMBER FOR THE FIRST TIME MY LIFE AFTER VERY MANY YEARS LOOKG AT MYSELF THE MIRROR AND I SAID TO MYSELF, I AM GAY, I AM UNIQUE AND THIS IS MY TTH."SHE ADD THAT AFTER THAT A WEIGHT WAS LIFTED OFF HER CHT AS SHE WAS FALLY EE. 'I AM GAY!' MEDIA PERSONALY MAKENA NJERI OPENS UP'I AM GAY!' MEDIA PERSONALY MAKENA NJERI OPENS UPLIFTYLE2 YEARS AGO  ANA NTHIS SPARKED AN TENSE NVERSATN ON TWTER, WH MANY QUTNG HER SEXUALY AFTER SHE POSTED THE TWEET BELOW."I HOPE MY KIDS NEVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT I HAVE GONE THROUGH FOR BEG LGBTQ+," SHE TWEETED.OTHERS QUTNED HER CISN TO POST SUCH RMATN ON SOCIAL MEDIA.LETOYA JOHNSTONE KENYAN MOL HAS NEVER SHIED AWAY OM THE FACT THAT SHE IS A MEMBER OF THE LGBTQ MUNY.LETOYA WHO NSIRS HERSELF A WOMAN HAS BEEN A MEMBER FOR YEARS, SHE HAS HOWEVER FACED A LOT OF CRICISM, AND MISTREATMENT WH THE LATT CINT BEG THROWN OUT OF A CLUB.  MAKENA NJERI SPIR NOTI FLOW TO E OUT (LEAKED TEXTS)THE BOLDNS MAKENA HAS ALREADY IMPACTED OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY KENYA.ENTERTAMENT2 YEARS AGO LATT STORI
• THE GAY DEBATE: DECRIMALISG HOMOSEXUALY KENYA
• KILLG OF LGBTQ+ ACTIVIST PROMPTS OUTCRY OVER ANTI-GAY ATTACKS KENYA
• ‘THE SKY DON’T LLAPSE.’ A FILMMAKER EXPLOR GAY LIFE KENYA.
• KENYA GAY TRAVEL

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".

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

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. Image source, Getty ImagIn 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 muny. 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".

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

"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 paras, drag shows, wearg the lours, the flags, the emblems of the LGBTQ group, " Mr Kaluma says. 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.

IS KENYA ABOUT TO FOLLOW UGANDA WH STRICT ANTI-GAY LEGISLATN?

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

She 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".

KENYANS WHO HAVE OPENLY ADMTED TO BEG MEMBERS OF LGBTQ FAY SHARE PENINAH WAMBUI ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST LIFTYLE 04 JUNE 2021 FORMER BBC JOURNALIST MAKENA NJERI IMAGE: INSTAGRAM FORMER BBC JOURNALIST MAKENA NJERI IMAGE: INSTAGRAM IN THE RECENT PAST MORE AND MORE KENYANS HAVE BOLDLY OPENED UP ON BEG MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ MUNY.LGBTQ STANDS FOR LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR, AND QUEER.BELOW ARE SOME OF THE KENYANSNJERI MAKENAEX BBC REPORTER MAKENA NJERI RECENTLY OPENED UP ON BEG GAY.'ACRDG TO NJERI SHE HAS ALWAYS KNOWN SHE WAS DIFFERENT BUT WAS NEVER URAGEO ENOUGH TO STAND BY HER TTH.IN A VIO POSTED BY AN TERNATNAL MEDIA PLATFORM, TEDX ON BEHALF OF TEDX PARKLANDS, MAKENA SAID HAD TAKEN YEARS FOR HER TO ACCEPT AND ADM THE FACT TO HERSELF.THE FORMER 'TAHIDI HIGH' ACTRS SAID FOR THE LAST , SHE STGGLED TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE, "NFORMG TO THE DIFFERENT SOCIETAL NORMS THAT HAVE BEEN PLACED ON OM A VERY YOUNG AGE"."AT 19 YEARS OLD, G TO THE CY, I WANTED TO ACT AND BEE A SUPERSTAR FEATURG DIFFERENT TV SHOWS. BUT I KNEW FOR A FACT THAT THE BATTL I HAD BEEN GOG THROUGH AS A TEENAGER WILL BE TTED THIS CY. I REALISED THAT WHAT SOCIETY WANTED ME TO TAKE WASN'T THE SE FOR HUMANY AND ME," SHE SAID. "I REMEMBER FOR THE FIRST TIME MY LIFE AFTER VERY MANY YEARS LOOKG AT MYSELF THE MIRROR AND I SAID TO MYSELF, I AM GAY, I AM UNIQUE AND THIS IS MY TTH."SHE ADD THAT AFTER THAT A WEIGHT WAS LIFTED OFF HER CHT AS SHE WAS FALLY EE. 'I AM GAY!' MEDIA PERSONALY MAKENA NJERI OPENS UP'I AM GAY!' MEDIA PERSONALY MAKENA NJERI OPENS UPLIFTYLE2 YEARS AGO  ANA NTHIS SPARKED AN TENSE NVERSATN ON TWTER, WH MANY QUTNG HER SEXUALY AFTER SHE POSTED THE TWEET BELOW."I HOPE MY KIDS NEVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT I HAVE GONE THROUGH FOR BEG LGBTQ+," SHE TWEETED.OTHERS QUTNED HER CISN TO POST SUCH RMATN ON SOCIAL MEDIA.LETOYA JOHNSTONE KENYAN MOL HAS NEVER SHIED AWAY OM THE FACT THAT SHE IS A MEMBER OF THE LGBTQ MUNY.LETOYA WHO NSIRS HERSELF A WOMAN HAS BEEN A MEMBER FOR YEARS, SHE HAS HOWEVER FACED A LOT OF CRICISM, AND MISTREATMENT WH THE LATT CINT BEG THROWN OUT OF A CLUB.  MAKENA NJERI SPIR NOTI FLOW TO E OUT (LEAKED TEXTS)THE BOLDNS MAKENA HAS ALREADY IMPACTED OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY KENYA.ENTERTAMENT2 YEARS AGO LATT STORI

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021.

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

The gatherg was meant to be a celebratn, but the anisers had also been reful to take attendg the gay pri party the Kenyan port of Mombasa last week arrived on and twos, most drs, whout flags or regalia. Mombasa has many nservative Christians and Mlims and pollg suggts the vast majory of Kenyans nsir homosexualy to be taboo, even if tolerance is creepg gay muny also liv fear of appallg vlence.

THE GAY DEBATE: DECRIMALISG HOMOSEXUALY KENYA

Earlier this year, an openly gay activist was attacked by a mob a slum close to the party venue.

Many fear such attacks may crease after neighbourg Uganda recently passed one of the world’s strictt anti-gay laws, and some policians Kenya now want to do the the party, therefore, atten only changed to lourful stum once they joed the baret si, but some guts and dignari clearly still wanted to distance themselv om the proceedgs. “Let me make clear to you that I am not a gay person and that is why you see me seated, separate om those people, ” an awkward-lookg Catholic clergyman told of the journalists themselv also looked unfortable. One gay man who gave his name as Mike mand to know if the journalists were secret policemen.

KILLG OF LGBTQ+ ACTIVIST PROMPTS OUTCRY OVER ANTI-GAY ATTACKS KENYA

” the 24-year-old were ed moured to be armed police and telligence officers the crowd: tough-lookg men civilian cloth, perhaps gatherg rmatn, but also ready to protect the crowd if while gay sex remas illegal the East Ain natn unr laws datg back to the lonial era, the gatherg had the tac acceptance of the ernment and police. Mombasa held the event last week as Kenya’s gay muny has recently won judicial victori, yet is also still persecuted and unr threat om new anti-gay legislatn.

Followg Uganda’s adoptn of strict anti-gay legislatn, there are siar mov afoot Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan, as part of a broad anti-LGBT legislative drive across East Ai. Any “aggravated homosexualy”, which clus gay sex wh a mor or disabled person or when a termal disease is passed on, would brg the ath penalty. Holdg events such as last week’s Mombasa pri party would be illegal, as would the registratn of LGBT anisatns, or the promotn of gay or lbian rights.

‘THE SKY DON’T LLAPSE.’ A FILMMAKER EXPLOR GAY LIFE KENYA.

It will be an act of gross cency to take part a gay para or public same-sex displays of amoro backg such legislatn across the regn ame as cultural battle to save Ain valu and sovereignty, which they say are unr asslt by Wtern prsure to pulate on gay rights. ‘A hateful piece of legislatn’Peter Kaluma, a parliamentarian the natnal assembly behd the bill, told the Telegraph the LGBT muny was engrossed a “filthy perversn” fuelled by Wtern Kaluma, a legal scholar, said his proposal aimed to “prohib homosexualy and same sex marriage and related activi” and proscribe “activi that seek to advance, promote or fund homosexualy and unnatural sexual acts” bill was part of a “global ph back agast the LGBTQ movement even the USA and most Wtern European untri, ” he bill has provoked ep unease among the untry’s gay and lbian muny. “It is a hateful piece of legislatn that will tly make the liv of queer Kenyans unbearable if passed, ” Ante Atieno of the Natnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn mpaign group said last is also at odds wh a supreme urt lg earlier this year that the ernment was wrong to block a gay rights anisatn om registerg as an NGO.

KENYA GAY TRAVEL

Pollg 2019 by Pew found only 14 per cent of Kenyans said homosexualy should be accepted by society.

Ismail Bahati, the executive director of Pema Kenya, a lol gay and lbian lobby group, said the climate was an uneasy mixture of vlent hostily and risg tolerance. “We are memoratg people who have died the stggle…” he said, addg that gays and lbians “have been attacked markets, b and public plac for exprsg themselv. ”Some relig lears were creasgly willg to listen to the gay and lbian muny, as shown by the attendance of the Catholic cleric, he said, even though the prit appeared unfortable.

Partly the engagement was pragmatic, as the ernment reached out as part of efforts to tackle at the party, cludg Mike, were ls said the Ugandan legislatn had st a cloud over gay life Kenya, as had the high-profile murr January of Edw Chiloba, a gay rights activist who was killed by a former boyiend. “The fact that [Edw] was killed by a fellow gay lover revolted many Kenyans and put much prsure agast the gay muny, ” said Mike.