Family Protection Bill: Will Kenya Finally Table The anti-LGBTQ Bill in Parliament?
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Kenya is on the verge of criminalizing anti-LGBTQ legislation in parliament. The proposed Family Protection Act will see a ban on activities that promote homosexuality. The proposed bill will criminalize same-sex acts with penalties that range from a minimum of ten years in prison.
Aggravated homosexuality better defined as,” engaging in homosexual acts with a minor or disabled person and transmitting a terminal disease through sexual means” attracts the death penalty. The act would also see a ban on activities that promote the LGBTQ community like the wearing of flags of the community.
George Peter Kaluma, a member of the opposition leader’s Orange Democratic Movement presented the anti-gay bill. Peter’s campaign has scared the advocacy groups prompting a coalition in the United States to call on President Biden to suspend trade talks.
The coalition that comprises human rights, HIV, LGBTQ, trade and labour groups sent a letter to the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to “pause STIP negotiation until President Ruto commits to vetoing this bill”.
In June, members of Congress wrote to the ambassador expressing their concern, ” “The United States must make clear to both Kenya and other countries considering similar legislation that we will not stand idly by as they move to criminalize or further criminalize people for being LGBTQI+.”
The proposed bill comes following Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality bill that was passed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May. It is considered one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws as it criminalizes same-sex acts with the death penalty or penalties of life imprisonment.
Lawmakers in Ghana are in the process of amending the country’s anti-LGBTQ legislation. They propose a 10-year sentence for people who promote homosexuality and a three-year prison sentence for people who identify as LGBTQ. Nairobi-based National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission have recorded a surge in the number of attacks against the LGBTQ community.
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