Of LGBT and fundamental rights: Are Kenyans ready to have the discussion yet?

Lesbian church, Cosmopolitan Affirming Church (CAC) is now awaiting a court ruling from the High Court, seeking to determine the legality of criminalizing homosexuality in Kenya.

The law of the land states that anyone who has “carnal knowledge … against the order of nature” can be imprisoned for 14 years, while another could see one land in jail for five years for “indecent practices between males”.

The church goers decry fundamental rights that the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya is denied under the same law.

The law specifies that anyone found acting in the aforementioned “against the order of nature” way, whether ‘in public or private’ is legible for arrest- essentially allowing police to bedrooms to investigate these crimes.

epa04066201 Kenyan supporters of the LGBT community chant slogans against Uganda’s anti-gay bill in front of the Ugandan High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, 10 February 2014. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is to decide before 16 February whether or not to enact the proposed anti-gay law, which would mean homosexuals in Uganda would face life imprisonment. EPA/DAI KUROKAWA

In addition to this, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Council (NGLHRC) in 2017 recorded an increase in cases where people using online dating applications such as Grindr end up being blackmailed or extorted, often by organised gangs who work with the police.

Those who are blackmailed, evicted, fired, expelled from school, or assaulted over their sexual orientation, are unable to access justice because it means “confessing to a crime”.

“Because of the law you fear blackmail, you fear extortion, you fear violence … because there is no law protecting you, and the law is against you,” said Arthur Owiti, who plays the keyboard at the CAC church.

During the court case, local experts testified on the history of homosexuality in Kenya — often decried as a colonial import by politicians — and also leaned on a decision decriminalising homosexuality in India last year.

The advocates believe that Kenyans are ready to begin a discussion about homosexuality.

Are you?

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