Kenya’s high court upholds ban on gay sex

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Kenya’s high court upheld laws criminalizing homosexual acts between adults in a nation with Christian majority in a landmark ruling Friday.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel came as a blow to activists from the gay community who crowded inside and outside Milimani law courts in the capital of Nairobi, hopeful the case filed in 2016 by Kenyan gay rights activists would succeed.

“Acknowledging cohabitation among people of the same sex (where they would ostensibly be able to have same-sex intercourse) would indirectly open the door for unions (marriages) of people of the same sex,” Justice Roselyne Aburili said in the ruling.

Gay rights activist John Mathenge told Anadolu Agency outside the court he was saddened by the court’s decision. “I am disappointed by the judgment. It is a sad day for equality, human rights and the rule of law.”

Human Rights Watch in Kenya said the ruling is a step backward in the progress Kenya has made toward equality in recent years.

Neela Ghoshal, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Kenya’s High Court has relegated people in same-sex relationships in Kenya to second-class citizenship, based on the absurd claim that the penal code is not discriminatory, rights cannot be trampled upon in the name of social disapproval. The Court of Appeal should revisit this ruling urgently.”

But Dr. Tiffany Mwigani from the University of Nairobi, said same-sex relationships can produce unknown diseases. "Sexual relationships between people of the same sex, especially men, expose them to sexually transmitted diseases, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population,” she told Anadolu Agency. “In some cases it leads to mental disorders and physical injuries, to clarify on mental disorders let me put it this way, according to a research done in the Netherlands where most gays, lesbians and bisexuals are welcomed by the community, it was found that psychiatric illnesses such as drug abuse, suicide attempts and depression are high among gays, lesbians and bisexuals."

In Kenya, people found having same-sex relationships face no less than 14 years in prison.

Activists said they plan to appeal the ruling.