A proposed anti-gay bill in Kenya wants gays and lesbians jailed for 50 years for non-consensual sex.
Dubbed the Family Protection Bill 2023, the draft law sponsored by Homa Bay Town legislator Peter Kaluma, is recommending a ban on homosexuality, same-sex unions and any LGBTQ activities and campaigns.
It also seeks to prohibit gay parades, assemblies and marches on streets, and cross-dressing in public.
“A person who engages in sexual act with a person of the same sex without the consent of the other person shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years and not exceeding 50 years,” says the bill.
Owners of premises used for same-sex relations will pay a fine of $14,000 (£11,000) or face a jail term of seven years if the bill goes through.
Gay sex is already illegal in Kenya, but the government can also be tolerant of gay people – for example, it has given asylum to people from other African countries, including Uganda, who faced persecution in their home countries because of their sexual orientation.
Last week, clerics and some civil society organisation groups held anti-LGBTQ protests in the coastal city of Mombasa.
This followed a re-enforcement by Kenya’s Supreme Court of a decision in mid-September to allow the registration of LGBTQ non-governmental organisations.
Kenya’s NGO Coordinating Board had declined to register the National Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission, saying it “promotes same-sex behaviour”, dragging the case for a decade.
The Supreme Court early this year deemed the move discriminatory and unconstitutional hence allowing LGBTQ organisations to register in a landmark ruling.