(statement by Pan Africa ILGA)

Pan Africa ILGA recognises and stands with Kenyan activists who have been challenging Section 162.

These laws increase the stigma around homosexuality and perpetuate hate crimes against the LGBTIQ+ community. These laws also do the work of promoting compulsory sexualities and nuclear family models that are incongruent to the history of societal organizing in Kenya.  

As stated by Otsieno Namwaya from the Human Rights Watch, “Kenya’s own Constitution outlaws discrimination of any kind, so it is illegal to allow discrimination on the basis of religion, on the basis of tribe and on the basis of sexual orientation. So it is a contradiction for the Constitution to say on one hand that any form of discrimination is illegal but on the other hand retain laws that discriminate against one section of the people.”

Pan Africa ILGA expresses its disappointment in the decision by the Kenyan Courts to uphold the Draconian laws which continue to criminalise LGBTIQ+ content. It is disheartening to witness the preservation of a colonial legacy which delegitimizes the lives and experiences of the LGBTIQ+ community.

We continue to support the queer community in Kenya and urge the world to continue to support activists in the fight for the recognition of the  LGBTIQ+ in Africa.

(photo: Flickr / Sancho McCann, CC BY 2.0)