Kenya’s High Court has ruled against campaigners seeking to overturn a law banning gay sex.
The three judges rejected claims that the colonial-era law violated the new constitution, which guarantees equality, dignity and privacy.
The penal code criminalises “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” – widely understood to refer to anal intercourse between men.
Gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
It is not clear whether there have ever been any convictions for gay sex in Kenya.
But Kenya’s National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) had pushed for the law to be scrapped, arguing that it gave rise to a climate of homophobia.
The law is specific to men but activists say that lesbian, bi, trans and non-binary voices are also affected.
“The general public doesn’t know that the law only applies to male relationships,” says Njeri Gateru, a co-founder of the (NGLHRC).
“They include other sexual minorities in their prejudice.”
Many African countries still enforce strict laws governing homosexuality, in most cases a legacy of laws imposed by the colonial rulers.
The case was initially filed by LGBT rights activists in 2016. They argued that the state had no business regulating matters of intimacy.
It wasn’t heard until February 2018 and the verdict was initially expected in February 2019 – but it was delayed until Friday.
(Source: BBC)
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