Government Intensifies war on Same-sex relationships

Nairobi, 

Tuesday, 22 October, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

The government has stepped up on its war against Same-Sex relationships including content that promote, circulate or disseminate the illegal vices in the country. 

In a committee meeting at Parliament on Tuesday, Principal Secretaries for Social Protection Joseph Motari and Prof. Edward Kisiang'ani, PS for Broadcast and Telecommunications addressed the Committee on the various steps undertaken to implementing the government's ban on discussing, publishing, and distributing information promoting same-sex relationships.

Here, the State Department for Social Protection has undertaken several key initiatives to address this issue, including:

Implementation of the Children’s Act: Ongoing development of regulations, guidelines, and rules to ensure effective enforcement.

The Government is also implementing the National Prevention and Response Plan on Violence Against Children (2019-2023) which Focuses on driving evidence-based, multi-sectoral actions to address violence against children.

Furthermore the government has rolled out a national plan to tackle online child exploitation and abuse, while strengthening families and communities.

Additionally, through the State Department of Broadcast and Telecommunications, the government is working with the 

The Media Council of Kenya has been directed to set media standards and monitor compliance to regulate media content.

Meanwhile, the Communications Authority of Kenya has been tasked with licensing and regulating postal, information, and communication services.

These efforts, the Government says, form part of a broader strategy to protect children and uphold the law regarding same-sex relationships.

On 24 May 2019, the High Court of Kenya refused an order to declare sections 162 and 165 unconstitutional.The state does not recognise any relationships between persons of the same sex; same-sex marriage is banned under the Kenyan Constitution since 2010. 

There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Adoption is restricted to heterosexual couples only.

However, there have been a series of court rulings in favour of transgender rights, such as the right to change the names appearing on legal documents. It is currently unclear as to whether these rulings constitute substantive law on the issue of changing legal gender.

Kenyan society is highly conservative, and a large majority of people hold negative views of LGBT people.

In 2023, Pew Research Center estimated that over 90% of Kenyans oppose same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, public support has slowly been growing and various organisations are working to protect and improve LGBT rights.

Meanwhile Expressions of homosexuality remain illegal under Kenyan statutes and carry a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment, or 21 years under certain aggravating circumstances. 

Sex acts between women are mentioned under the gender-neutral term "person" in Section 162 of the Penal Code and are enforced equally. On 28 November 2010,then Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for women or men engaging in same-sex activity to be arrested.