Kenya gay rights activists protest in London over Peter Kaluma’s Family Protection Bill
Kenyan gay rights activists have taken their protests to the UK, expressing their disapproval of what they term as discrimination against them.
This week a section of the activists supporting gay rights joined other nationalities, notably from Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, and Tanzania in street protests in the city of London.
They are apprehensive that besides the ‘persecutory’ attitude among Kenyans towards them, the Homa Bay Town Member of Parliament, Peter Kaluma’s Family Protection Bill 2023, will worsen the situation if it successfully goes through parliament.
According to Seth Ouma, a Kenyan LGBTQ+ rights activist, Kenya may be next after Uganda and Ghana in enacting a discriminative anti-homosexuality law.
“The persecutory attitude of Kenyans is rife with livid homophobia, and this fans parliament's push for the harsher laws," says Ouma, who fears that should the Bill be brought for debate, MPs will unanimously endorse it with total disregard to the possible violations of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and other universal rights and freedoms.
Ouma is among hundreds of gay rights activists who attended the 75th Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, UK on March 11, 2024. They protested against what they described as the continued criminalisation of homosexuality in 30 out of the 56 Commonwealth countries.
The Kaluma Bill is currently under review by the National Assembly's Justice and Constitutional Affairs Committee. In the wake of the February 2023 Supreme Court ruling which gave a nod to the registration of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission by the NGOs Coordination Board, MPs and particularly the opposition were unanimous in condemning the court while calling for the judges to rescind the decision or resign.
Gay couple attacked
On February 29, 2024, a gay couple were beaten up by irate locals in a Naivasha restaurant after their behaviour angered other revellers.
Florence Jeptoo, another Kenyan at the London event, termed this incident regrettable and unacceptable.
“It surprised everyone that no police enforcement action materialised during this incident, which we condemn in the strongest terms possible,” she said.
Sections 162 and 165 of Kenya's Penal Code penalise "carnal knowledge…against the order of nature" with up to 14 years of incarceration and "indecent practices between males" by up to a 5-year jail term, respectively.
The protest in London drew the attention of other Londoners who joined in the chants as dignitaries of various countries arrived for the Commonwealth function. Chanting pro-LGBTQ+ slogans and calling out the liable countries, Kenya included, the attending Kenyans expressed their disappointment at the continued discrimination and persecution of the country's LGBTQ+ community after the High Court in May 2019 declined to repeal sections of the penal code that criminalise homosexuality.
Generally, most African countries still criminalise homosexuality under colonial-era sections of the penal code that were retained in the post-independence period.
While some, like Uganda and recently Ghana, have stepped up the criminalization of homosexuality by enacting even harsher laws and a hostile environment for the queer community and their supporters, including activists and NGOs.
Only a few African states, including South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Angola, Lesotho, Seychelles and Mauritius, have managed to decriminalise homosexuality by repealing anti-LGBTQ+ laws through the courts or parliament, albeit with considerable angst from the respective governments and public whose attitudes towards homosexuality remain conservative.
