Anti-LGBTQIA+ hate increases in Kenya after court ruling
The LGBTQIA+community’s court victory met with heightened attacks on social media and religious outcry, revealing cultural tensions
The Kenyan supreme court ruling granting the country’s LGBTQIA+ community the right of association has elicited a groundswell of homophobic rhetoric and protests, a Code for Africa analysis has found.
On 12 September 2023, the country’s apex court reaffirmed its 24 February 2023 ruling that the refusal of the country’s Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordination Board to register the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission was discriminatory.
The ruling was the culmination of a decade-long legal battle by the country’s LGBTQIA+ community to be registered as an association. In 2013, the NGO board refused to register the group, claiming that it ‘promotes same-sex behaviour’. This refusal symbolises the widespread discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people and organisations in the country.
In a 2011 study, the Kenya Human Rights Commission found that the LGBTQIA+ community faced discrimination, including the denial of services such as healthcare and education.
Although this landmark ruling stopped short of decriminalising same-sex relationships, which are prohibited by sections 162, 163, and 165 of the country’s penal code, it elicited a wave of anti-LGBTQIA+ agitation on social media and protests in at least two Kenyan cities. These protests were primarily led by politicians and religious leaders.
Political leaders fuel anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments
The country’s political elite criticised the verdict, and Kenyan president William Ruto suggested that LGBTQIA+ rights would not be respected in the country.
‘I am God-fearing, and although we respect the ruling made by the supreme court, we have our culture and traditions. We cannot go down that route. It can happen elsewhere, but not in Kenya,’ Ruto said.
The verdict also ignited anti-LGBTQIA+ protests led by political leaders in Mombasa and Uasin Gishu counties. For instance, Nyali MP Mohammed Ali not only took part in the protest in Mombasa but also amplified anti-LGBTQIA+ content on social media.
Ali condemned the supreme court’s ruling on 13 September 2023 using his X (formerly Twitter) account, @MohaJichoPevu. Ali, who has about 1.57 million followers on X, alleged without evidence that the verdict resulted from foreign interference in Kenya’s laws. His post was viewed 214,100 times and had 2,230 interactions.
Ali’s claim of foreign interference is in line with the widespread narrative that Western countries were pressuring Kenya to adopt pro-LGBTQIA+ policies in exchange for financial aid.
On 17 September 2023, X user @Alvinmwangi254 shared a video he claimed was recorded during the anti-LGBTQIA+ protest in Mombasa. In the video, a man said LGBTQIA+ people should be punished and killed, arguing that the standards of the Bible and Quran be upheld. The post received 7,117 views and 26 interactions.
Former Kenyan chief justice Willy Mutunga, whose X account has more than 1.2 million followers, reposted @Alvinmwangi254’s post, significantly increasing its reach. The post had an estimated reach of 1.26 million and more than 10,000 views.
Various politicians and parliamentary committees, including the Homa Bay county MP Peter Kaluma and the sports and culture committee, also opposed and criticised the supreme court’s decision.
Religious leaders stoke anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments
Christian leaders also chastised the supreme court. On 15 November 2023, Hudson Ndeda, the chairperson of the influential Church and Clergy Association of Kenya, urged the country’s president to assert his position. He said the government should not register organisations supporting LGBTQIA+ orientation, adding that it is the role of the church to ‘blow trumpet’ when societal ills and injustices are left unchecked.
On 13 September 2023, KTN News posted a video on its YouTube channel about the anti-LGBTQIA+ protests in Mombasa and Uasin Gishu counties. The video featured Christian leaders in Uasin Gishu and Muslim leaders in Mombasa leading the protests. The video has so far received 3,600 views and 22 comments. A sentiment analysis of these comments found viewers had mixed reactions, with some supporting the ruling and others echoing and commending the religious bodies for their stand against it.
Some of the comments repeated the claims made by some politicians that the ruling was influenced by the Kenyan government’s need to maintain its relationship with the US and UK governments.
Amplification of Anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric on social media
On 13 September 2023, there was a notable increase in Facebook posts about another anti-LGBTQIA+ protest in Mombasa county. This protest was prompted by the dismissal of Kaluma’s petition contesting the supreme court ruling. The protest was posted 113 times on Facebook and received 27,000 interactions and 32,911 views.
The protest attracted significant backing from politicians and government officials, who openly expressed their disapproval of the supreme court ruling across various platforms, including social media, national media outlets, and vernacular radio stations. Some of these politicians and officials actively participated in the anti-LGBTQIA+ protest. One such official, Music Copyright Society of Kenya chief executive Ezekiel Mutua, likened the supreme court ruling to permitting terrorism in the country.
The supreme court’s decision to uphold the LGBTQIA+ community’s right to association attracted 3,987 more mentions on X in the days after the ruling than were made in the lead up to the Kenyan parliament tabling an anti-LGBTQIA+ bill in mid-2023.
On 06 October 2023, Ali shared a video criticising the ruling. The video received 136,400 views and 1,084 engagements. A sentiment analysis found that most users who posted original X posts and replied to Ali’s post opposed the verdict. Many of the commenters called for the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in Kenya and the resignation of deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu and justices Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndung’u for upholding the decision.
Other X users referred to the US as ‘neocolonialists’. They repeated the allegation that the US was pressuring Kenya to amend its constitution in support of the LGBTQIA+ community in exchange for financial aid. These sentiments gained prominence after at least five publications, including The Citizen and The Standard, reported about potential funding cuts from foreign donors, including the European Union and the US, if laws targeting the LGBTQIA+ community are passed.
However, there was a marginal decline in the posting of anti-LGBTQIA+ content on X after the court’s reaffirmation of its initial verdict. There were 22,100 mentions in the month after the verdict, as opposed to 24,000 mentions the month after the initial ruling.
After the court’s reaffirmation, Kenyan sentiments towards the LGBTQIA+ community on X revolved around two main themes:
- Uganda’s opposition to the LGBTQIA+ community: President Yoweri Museveni and Uganda as a whole continued to be criticised for the country’s laws against the LGBTQIA+ community. Many people expressed concerns about the potential consequences of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, which they claimed imposed severe penalties for associating with the LGBTQIA+ community. Users on X argued that these laws violate basic human rights and set a dangerous precedent for discrimination and persecution against the LGBTQIA+ community. X user @SteveKabuye’s post echoing these sentiments received 505,500 views and 5,342 engagements.
- Opposition to LGBTQIA+ practices from the Islamic community in Kenya and Nigeria: The Islamic community in Kenya remained steadfast in its opposition to LGBTQIA+ practices and criticised the government for enacting laws supporting the community. Several accounts associated with Islam, such as @jamia_mosque and @JamaludinSheikh, were observed sharing these sentiments and expressing support for anti-LGBTQIA+ protests in Kenya. Other accounts praised the arrest of more than 70 people involved in organising a same-sex marriage in Gombe, Nigeria.
A petition to protect LGBTQIA+ rights
On 28 September 2023, an advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and the Centre for Minority Rights and Strategic Litigation petitioned the Mombasa high court, challenging the activities of a group known as the Anti-LGBTQ Movement. The petitioners made various claims, including that the anti-LGBTQIA+ activities of the movement had resulted in gross human rights violations against the LGBTQIA+ community. The petitioners asserted that different anti-LGBTQIA+ groups had merged into an Anti-LGBTQ Movement, which has started a hate campaign calling for ‘violence, elimination and expulsion’ of LGBTQIA+ community members from the country.
Where we are now
The 2023 supreme court ruling elicited several anti-LGBTQIA+ responses, including a petition tabled to parliament by religious leaders from both the Muslim and Christian faiths, calling for an immediate inquiry into what they perceive as the ‘proliferation of a LGBTQIA+ agenda’ in the country. The leaders, who convened in Nairobi on 01 February 2024, also expressed their support for the Family Protection Bill 2023, spearheaded by Kaluma. This bill seeks to ban LGBTQIA+-related activities and campaigns.
On 01 and 02 February 2024, Citizen TV posted reports about the bill on its Facebook and YouTube channels. The YouTube video received 4,700 views and 47 comments and the Facebook post received 688 views and 86 engagements. Between 01 and 06 February, the Facebook video was shared 13 times and generated 18 reactions, totalling 31 engagements.
Between 01 and 06 February, there was significant engagement on Citizen TV’s account on X. The post generated 20 mentions, 38,248 views, and 29 reposts. Of the comments on the post, 69% were negative and revolved around the following two major themes:
- Commenters opposed the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ ‘agendas’ in Kenya’s educational curriculum and family environments. Commenters said they were concerned about the potential erosion of their culture and moral decline. They urged media outlets to actively resist what they described as infiltration of LGBTQIA+ agendas. There was a strong emphasis on preserving traditional values, with a call to counteract what many commentators viewed as a looming threat to the fundamental structure of Kenyan society.
- Users similarly criticised unjustified foreign interference in shaping Kenya’s legal framework. Questions were raised about the legitimacy of such influence, with some commenters calling for people to resist what they perceived as external pressure on domestic policies.
Between 01 and 07 February 2024 there were two peaks of LGBTQIA+-related posts on X. The first peak occurred on 02 February and was caused by users’ reactions to the Citizen TV video. The second peak, which occurred on 06 February, was caused by a post by the @amerix account that claimed to give people pointers on how to identify homosexuals who are ‘hiding in marriage’. This post was accompanied by an alleged WhatsApp conversation between two homosexual men, one of whom was in a heterosexual marriage.
Of the 370 mentions on X between 01 and 06 February 2024, 354, or 95.7%, expressed negative sentiments towards individuals opposed to the LGBTQIA+ community and the laws inhibiting the latter’s freedom of expression. The primary content discussed in the X posts focused on the church’s firm stance against the LGBTQIA+ community.
Additionally, 88% of the X posts criticised the news and condemned the church for its perceived lack of consideration and humanity towards LGBTQIA+ individuals. Furthermore, the church and the Muslim community were rebuked for their perceived bias against the LGBTQIA+ community, contrasting with their purported lack of zeal against femicide and gender-based violence.
On 02 March 2023, 13 Kenyan human rights organisations issued a joint statement condemning the backlash and attacks against the judiciary after the supreme court’s decision to uphold the rights of LGBTQIA+ members to associate freely. The statement highlighted a disturbing trend of escalating malicious comments, both online and offline, as well as profiling and public demonstrations targeting individuals identifying as intersex, gay, lesbian, or non-binary. The organisations also noted that the personal details of LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families were being openly shared, leading to intimidation and the violation of their right to privacy and human dignity.
Echoing these concerns, Human Rights Watch and the Kenya Human Rights Commission noted the widespread violence, harassment, and discrimination faced by Kenya’s LGBTQIA+ community. Reports by the two organisations identify the criminalisation of same-sex behaviour and entrenched cultural and religious biases as root causes of the hostilities against the LGBTQIA+ community.
This article was written by the CfA iLAB team and edited by iLAB insights manager Nicholas Ibekwe and iLAB copy editor Theresa Mallinson.
