Tag Archives: Lesbians in Kenya

Kenya: Arson attack leaves lesbians in refugee camp with nothing

Once again, lesbians at Kakuma camp in Kenya at Block 13, along with the other refugees, are in danger, as they have suffered a fourth arson attack this year.

On August 16, the block was awakened by what sounded like gunshots. When they arose, they were met with the smell of petrol fumes all over their compound and they noticed huge amounts of it all around the shelter where the children sleep.

Police were called. They refused to come out to investigate before daylight. Thankfully the children were moved.

The police told them to leave the petrol containers as they were evidence. It turns out the petrol wasn’t just around the children’s shelter.

An hour later, the entire block was alight. From the time this was all reported, it took two-and-a-half hours for the police to show up. The station is five minutes away.

Every single bit of shelter they had left there burned to the ground, as did everything inside them and near to them.

They, quite literally, have nothing left. Twenty-five children and their mothers are now without any shelter.

There is absolutely nothing to protect them from the burning African sun, or the torrential downpours when they come.

They have no food, clothing, shelter, toiletries, or any other essentials to survive even at night.

All of their documentation and IDs as well as any personal belongings are gone. They have been left with only the clothing on their backs.

The intent of these violent crimes is clearly to kill and injure the LGB&T community in Kakuma.

Continue reading: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/arson-attack-leaves-lesbians-kenyan-refugee-camp-nothing (source)

UN submission on discrimination and violence against lesbians

On 1 August 2021 Listening2Lesbians provided submissions in response to the following from the Commission on the Status of Women:

“Any individual, non-governmental organization, group or network may submit communications (complaints/appeals/petitions) to the Commission on the Status of Women containing information relating to alleged violations of human rights that affect the status of women in any country in the world. The Commission on the Status of Women considers such communications as part of its annual programme of work in order to identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice and discriminatory practices against women for purposes of policy formulation and development of strategies for the promotion of gender equality.”

Commission on the Status of Women: Communication Procedure

Information was provided to the UN on incidents dating back approximately 2.5 years across the 57 countries we have reported on in that time.

Legal, social and familial punishment of lesbians for failing to conform with the expectations imposed on women illuminates the status of women around the world. Homosexuality is understood to be a breach of sex-based expectations. Strictly enforced sex roles are accompanied by increased consequences for those who break them, individually or collectively. Lesbians, or women read as lesbians, are doubly punishable for their non-conformity, both overt and inferred.

Listening2Lesbians is not an expert on these countries and provided this information to augment and support the information provided by women from individual communities. We can only provide information on cases we have been able to locate and based our submissions solely around the available facts. Please note that we welcome corrections and updates.

We are painfully aware of the many communities not represented.

Anyone with information on missing communities is invited to contact us with information on reporting violence and discrimination against lesbians in their community.

Liz, Ari and Devorah @ Listening2Lesbians

Submissions:

Update: Kenyan court refuses to lift ban on acclaimed lesbian romance film

rafiki

A Kenyan court on Wednesday refused to lift a ban on a locally-made acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance, the film’s producer said, adding that she would continue to fight for freedom of expression in the East African nation.

The film “Rafiki” – which means friend in Kiswahili – was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in April 2018 on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality in a country where gay sex is a criminal offence.

Rafiki’s producer Wanuri Kahiu appealed against the ban, arguing it was against freedom of expression which is enshrined in Kenya’s constitution. But the constitutional court stayed the ban, saying there was no violation of freedom of expression.

“We are disappointed of course. But I strongly believe in the constitution and we are not going to give up,” Kahiu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“I think it is very important for us to define what freedom of expression means in Kenya as per our constitution. We are going to appeal. The ruling today is not a true reflection of what the constitution says.”

Continue reading: https://news.trust.org/item
/20200429132946-3oyxt
(source)

Original article: https://listening2lesbians.com/2018/09/24/update-kenyan-court-lifts-ban-on-lesbian-love-film/

Kenya: Lesbians are being raped and living in fear in refugee camps

kenya

Eva Nabagala hoped she and her young son would be safe from her family when they fled Uganda for a Kenyan refugee camp – but instead, the 28-year-old says she was attacked and raped there as punishment for being a lesbian.

“I have been threatened with death, I have been beaten, I have been harassed sexually, and I have been sexually abused, raped,” Nabagala told Reuters by phone.

Nabagala said she and her now two-year-old son came to Kenya in 2018 after her family threatened to kill her because she is a lesbian.

“I ran from my home … because I wanted to be safe, I wanted protection, but it has turned into something the opposite,” Nabagala said.

Continue reading: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-refugees-lgbt/lesbians-gays-live-in-fear-of-attacks-in-kenyan-refugee-camp-idUSKCN22A1GB?il=0 (source)

Lesbian activist Gerald Hayo: corrective rape is a common practice in Kenya

Gerald Hayo

Kenya is one of the 70 countries in the world that as of March 2019 criminalizes having sex with someone of the same sex. Currently, being gay in Kenya is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The situation is aggravated if you are a lesbian woman, as is the case of Gerald Hayo, who survived a multiple corrective rape organized by her own family. The activist is now dedicating her life to fighting for the rights of lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women in the African country. Fire!!, the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Barcelona, ​​has premiered the documentary Now you are woman by journalist Alba Muñoz, in which Hayo tells her story to the world. At a time when talking involves exposing oneself, Hayo wants to break with the systematic silence that makes invisible the violations of human rights and the inequality suffered by Kenyan women who do not follow the mandate of heterosexuality.
(Translated)

Kenia es uno de los 70 países del mundo que a fecha de marzo de 2019 criminaliza tener relaciones con alguien de tu mismo sexo. Actualmente, ser homosexual en Kenia se castiga con hasta 14 años de prisión. La situación se agrava si eres una mujer lesbiana, como es el caso de Gerald Hayo, que sobrevivió a una violación múltiple correctiva organizada por su propia familia. La activista dedica ahora su vida a luchar por los derechos de las mujeres lesbianas, bisexuales y queer (LBQ) del país africano. Fire!!, la Muestra Internacional de cine Gay y Lésbico de Barcelona, ha estrenado … el documental Now you are woman de la periodista Alba Muñoz, en el que Hayo relata su historia al mundo. En un momento en el que hablar supone exponerse, Hayo quiere romper con el silencio sistemático que invisibiliza las vulneraciones de derechos humanos y la desigualdad que sufren las mujeres keniatas que no siguen el mandato de la heterosexualidad.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.elsaltodiario.com/kenia/gerald-hayo-las-violaciones-correctivas-a-mujeres-lbq-son-una-practica-comun-en-kenia- (Source)

Update: Kenyan court lifts ban on lesbian love film

rafiki

Kenya on Friday overturned a ban on Rafiki, a film about a lesbian love affair and the first ever movie from the country to be shown at the Cannes film festival.

Continue reading at: https://www.france24.com/en/20180921-kenyan-court-lifts-ban-lesbian-love-film (source)

Original article: Kenya bans lesbian love story film

Update: https://listening2lesbians.com/2020/05/01/update-kenyan-court-refuses-to-lift-ban-on-acclaimed-lesbian-romance-film/

Kenya bans lesbian love story film

Kenyan authorities have banned a film that tells the love story of two women and is set to debut at Cannes Film Festival next month, saying it promotes lesbianism.
The film “Rafiki”, a word that means friend in KiSwahili, was this week invited to premiere at the prestigious festival in France — the first Kenyan film to receive to be invited.

Continue reading at: https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/kenya-bans-lesbian-love-story-film-rafiki-set-to-debut-at-cannes-14676629 (source)

Update: Update: Kenyan court lifts ban on lesbian love film

Lesbian Ugandans among others facing isolation, violence and starvation in Kenyan refugee camp

 

 

 

In the wake of their miles-long trek last month from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, LGBTI Ugandan refugees returned to the camp with a few offers of future help. Soon after their return, the whole camp was hit by a cutback in food distribution.

The trekkers had sought protection from other refugees’ homophobic hostility and relief from the camp’s harsh conditions.

Continue reading at: LGBTI refugees in Kenya: Food cutback, new security plan | 76 CRIMES (Source)

Gigi Louisa: Kenyan lesbian on fighting for lesbian and gay rights in Kenya

Being gay in Kenya is risky. This is according to Gigi Louisa, a 28-year-old Kenyan lesbian who has shared her experience of living in Kenya’s conservative society. The LGBQT activist is on a mission to fight for gay rights in Kenya.  In an interview with the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), she said she always has to be careful.

Continue reading at: “I can be attacked at any time:” Meet woman, 28, dedicated to fighting for gay rights in Kenya (photo) ▷ Tuko.co.ke (Source)

Kenyan lesbian fails Swedish immigration ‘gay test’

Some of the questions asked by the migration board include: “Would you describe yourself as lesbian or gay?”, “When do you feel that you became sexually interested in other people? How do you think about this?” And “For me, this sounds like a form of sexual exploitation of you, and not one Equal sex relationship”

“I did not understand anything. No one told me what to expect. What I would do or say, or at least give me some guidelines,” she said.

Lucy further alleges that her life is in danger because her name has been released as a lesbian in the infamous Ugandan Tabloid Red Pepper among 200 other African lesbians.

Continue reading at: Kenyan lesbian fails Swedish ‘gay test’ – Entertainment News (Source)

Lesbians in the News – 30 October 2015

Lesbians in the News 30 October 2015

Guyana loses Woman of Courage Zenita Temall Nicholson

Guyanese LGBT activist, Zenita Temall Nicholson died on October 26th. Temall Nicholson was honoured last year by the US Embassy in Georgetown as an International Woman of Courage. She was the Country Coordinator for Caribbean Vulnerable Communities/PANCAP Global Fund, and past Secretary on the SASOD Board of Trustees (Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination, Guyana).

On presentation of the Woman of Courage award in March 2014, Temall Nicholson was described as being “an energetic, effective and passionate advocate at both the national and international levels for the principle that both women’s rights and the rights of lesbian, gays, bi – sexual and transgender persons are human rights, deserving of equal attention and protection”.

Guyana remains the only country in South America where homosexuality remains illegal and is punishable by imprisonment, with additional laws criminalising gender non conforming dress, although men may cross dress or express their gender identity as long as it is not for “improper purposes”. Women may wear trousers but do not appear to be covered by the same ruling enabling cross dressing.

As reported in a 2012 report to the UN CEDAW Committee, Guyanese lesbians remain subjected to harassment and sexual threats, compulsory heterosexuality, compulsory femininity and/or gender conformity.

Zenita Temall Nicholson’s activism will be missed in a country which requires significant improvements to secure the safety and wellbeing of lesbians, and our thoughts are with her family.

 

Arts & Entertainment

  • Curve magazine will contain an in-depth story on lesbian erasing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in their January issue.
  • Listen to author Michael Helquist discuss his new book about Marie Equi; lesbian doctor, activist and anarchist.
  • Follow bloggers Wandering Wives, a UK lesbian couple that sold everything they owned to travel the world.
  • Copies of Blood and Visions: Reconciling with Being Female by Autotomous Womyn’s Press are now available at Green Woman Store. It includes writing by ten womyn who stopped their transition from female to male.
  • Listen to the recording of “The Sounds of MichFest 2015: a Radio Documentary of the 40th and Final Fest” on WORT. It can be found under “Access Hour” in the archives from October 26th.

Laws, Politics and Policies

Social and Health Issues

Crimes against Lesbians

  • A lesbian couple vacationing in Hawaii was attacked and arrested by a police officer that didn’t like their public displays of affection in a grocery store. Taylor Guerrero and Courtney Wilson spent three days in jail before charges were dropped. The Honolulu Police Department has launched an investigation into the incident. Wilson and Guerrero have filed a lawsuit against the officer for discrimination.
  • A Welsh lesbian is speaking out after her attackers received a slap on the wrist for verbally and physically attacking her in north Wales in July. 44-year old Jackie Hatton-Kesketh says the attack left her unable to continue working at her job and contributed to the breakup of her 12-year relationship.

Events

  • The leading scorer in the history of international soccer, Abby Wambach, announced her retirement on October 27th. Wambach finishes her amazing career as the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, only the second American to win the title since Mia Hamm (2011 & 2002).
  • Jamaica held its first Montego Bay Pride on October 25th and announced it was a complete success. The event included music, networking, a 10-minute Flash Stand in front of the Summit Police Station and a speech by leading Jamaican activist Yvonne McCalla-Sobers.

Lesbians in the News compiled by Liz and Lisa.

If you have any other stories, corrections or comments, please add them below or email them to liz@listening2lesbians.com.