Arguments that homosexuals do not deserve equal rights to heterosexuals are both misguided and wrong.
Kenyan society's discomfort with homosexuals and the recent attention they have been receiving is no justification for codifying discrimination against them into the constitution.
- Decide that from tomorrow, you will only wear purple. If you do
so, you will be shunned by your friends and family, discriminated
against at work, ostracised by your church, condemned as a deviant
by authority figures, and become the subject of prurient gossip and
speculation. You may also be denied healthcare, be evicted, and be
targeted for brutal and violent attack. All because of the colour of
your wardrobe. Now, given the looming possibility of these
consequences, would be you willing to change your sartorial choices?
-
- In Kenyan society, the majority of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer) individuals keep a very low
profile. Until the recent furore over the civil partnership of two
Kenyan men in the UK, there was little discussion of homosexuality
in the Kenyan media. There are very few LGBTQ Kenyans who are open
about their sexuality; while some may be ashamed, others keep a low
profile out of necessity. They worry that they will be disowned by
their parents, or that they will be forced out of their homes by
their neighbours. They do not anticipate that they will receive
anything but a hostile reaction if they come out from the closet.
And they are not wrong.
-
- Since the story of Charles Ngengi and Daniel Gichia broke, LGBTQ
issues have been pushed to the fore of Kenyan civil discourse. Along
with outraged claims that homosexuality is “un-African” and that
the two men must have been “corrupted” from living in the West,
there has also been a violent undercurrent of retribution, with
comments on this website and others threatening to punish gay people
for their “choice,” most shamefully excused and encouraged by
the DJs at Classic FM. It is not safe to be openly gay or lesbian in
Kenya; to do so risks a beating, or even death.
-
- In their protests against extending human rights protection to
the LGBTQ community, opponents have run the gamut of easily debunked
claims. Homosexuality is un-African, they cry, while ignoring the
evidence of pre-colonial homosexual practices in a number of
African countries. It is an unnatural foreign import from the West,
they declare, while excepting those foreign imports that have been
readily accepted, such as allopathic medicine and the internal
combustion engine. It is against the word of God, they proclaim,
while wearing mixed fibres and eating meat on a Friday. The
arguments, that recognising non-heteronormative orientation will
lead to the collapse of civil society and the institution of
marriage, are easily – almost too easily – debunked. When it
comes down to brass tacks, the only justification for their
antipathy is fear, ignorance and prejudice.
-
- Homosexuality is no more a lifestyle choice than being born with
straight or curly hair. People do not wake up one day and decide
that they want to be a member of a threatened and oppressed
minority. While scientific research continues its search for a
definitive “gay gene,” at present the only potentially reliable
indicator is the number of older brothers a male child has . LGBTQ
people are born, not made or “converted.” Despite the attempts
of a number of misguided anti-homosexual groups in the USA, there is
no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.
-
- Far from being limited solely to Homo sapiens, homosexual
and bisexual behaviours are found across a range of animal species,
from lesbian gorillas enjoying mutual masturbation, to gay penguins
and flamingos co-parenting a chick, and promiscuous bonobos not
being fussy about the gender of their partners. Homosexuality is not
so much an aberrant and unnatural behaviour as yet another small but
distinct part of life's rich tapestry. If it were so unnatural,
surely evolution would have dealt with the defective genes by now?
After all, homosexual animals don't breed.
-
- Ask any LGBTQ individual when they became aware of their
sexuality and the most likely answer is that they have always known,
possibly from early childhood. A gay man is not going to become
heterosexual if he gets the “love of a good woman,” and a
lesbian cannot be “fixed” through rape . Even if social pressures
force these people to deny their sexuality, or simply to hide it
from their loved ones, they can no more change their default
orientation than you can change your blood type. Certainly, they can
have sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite gender; they
may even enter a heterosexual relationship that produces children.
But as any sex worker would tell you, you don't necessarily have to
be attracted to somebody to do the horizontal mambo. Forcing LGBTQ
individuals to conform to the norm will do nothing to change their
behaviour .
-
- Those who seek to deny LGBTQ Kenyans their rights seek to
discriminate against their fellow citizens on the basis of the
gender that they're attracted to. This makes as much sense as
discriminating against all left-handed citizens for deviating from
the norm. Yes, society is hetero-normative, the majority of people
are heterosexual and have no desire to experiment with members of
the same gender. On the opposite side of the same coin, LGBTQs are
not going to use increased tolerance to launch a recruitment drive;
why would they want unwilling straights when willing partners are
available? Recognising the rights of LGBTQ Kenyans merely puts them
on the same footing as all other Kenyans, and it will not take away
rights from any other segment of society. There is no justification,
moral or scientific, to discriminate against them in this way.
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