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Queer Spacemaking in Kenya

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On May 24, 2019, Kenya’s High Court upheld laws criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults, a step backward in the progress Kenya has made toward equality in recent years. The court addressed a petition filed in 2016 by three Kenyan organizations that work to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Kenyan LGBT groups and activists, including Marylize Biubwa were present in court to oppose the penal code which criminalizes same-sex conduct under articles 162 and 165 of the penal code- violating the rights to equality, non-discrimination, human dignity, security, privacy, and health, all protected under Kenya’s constitution.

Kenya’s anti-homosexuality laws are a colonial relic, first imposed by British colonizers in 1897. Article 162 punishes “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” with up to 14 years in prison, while article 165 makes “indecent practices between males” liable to up to five years in prison.

Kenya’s government has adopted an ambivalent stance on LGBT rights. President Uhuru Kenyatta referred to homosexuality as “not acceptable” in a 2018 media interview, but has previously said he would not tolerate anti-LGBT “witch hunts” and other forms of violence. Kenya accepted a recommendation at the UN Human Rights Council in 2015 to adopt legislation prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, consistent with constitutional guarantees of non-discrimination, but no such legislation has been passed.

The laws are rarely enforced by the judicial system, but they underpin a broad array of human rights abuses and contribute to a climate of discrimination and violence. Police use the laws as a pretext to harass and extort money or sex from LGBT people, or to deny services to LGBT people who are victims of violence. Kenyan human rights and LGBT organizations report that the laws have been used to justify employment and housing discrimination, to expel or suspend students from schools, to censor artistic expression related to LGBT issues, and to prevent LGBT organizations from registering.

In this interview, Activist and LGBT+ Advocate Marylize Biubwa, discusses the impact of such laws making invisible the existence and marginalization of queer people in Kenya, and the role of these laws in reinforcing existing negative attitudes and stereotypes, underpinned by religiosity, which perpetuate violence and keep queer people from accessing physical spaces and institutions in the community.

Marylize links the importance of establishing and maintaining space for queer people and education on queer issues in the digital space, as a safer tool for influencing attitudinal change in the change in Kenyan communities and with service providers – with the aim of this in turn opening access to participation in the physical spaces and institutions in Kenya, such as healthcare and educational institutions in addition to sites of employment and entertainment.

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