Esther looks tense before the interview. She fidgets her fingers, looking from side to side. A small smile escapes through her lips once in a while but most of the time she is gloomy. But mostly, sad
“You know, I thought my mum understood my struggle. I really thought she was on my side. How many times we had sat by the fireside talking about my feelings and the choice I had made to date Winnie, my childhood friend….” She stops like she has done so many times. Ponders for a few seconds
“I mean, she had told me she understood me and that she would be there for me,” she pauses again, looking at her fingers
“You see why I don’t understand when one Sunday afternoon…just out of nowhere – a group of church women swamped our compound and started casting out demons,”
Like many girls in Kenya, Esther’s family still refuses to accept the fact that their daughter is lesbian.
“I’m still not sure how praying for me would change my feelings….”
Young people who are differently oriented face a hard time. Not only with their parents but also in the communities at large
“I had to stop visiting the local youth resource center after word leaked that I was gay. Suddenly all my friends started to ignore and shun me.”
The state does not recognize any relationships between persons of the same sex; same-sex marriage is banned under the Kenyan Constitution since 2010. There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Adoption is prohibited for same-sex couples.
Kenya’s High Court on May 24, 2019, upheld laws criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults, a step backward in the progress Kenya has made toward equality in recent years, Human Rights Watch said today.
The court was addressing a petition filed in 2016 by three Kenyan organizations that work to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The groups said that the criminalization of same-sex conduct under articles 162 and 165 of the penal code violates the rights to equality, non-discrimination, human dignity, security, privacy, and health, all protected under Kenya’s constitution.
Esther, like thousands of other LGBTQ members, has little choices when it comes to exercising their reproductive rights
“Finding safe spaces is becoming almost impossible. Just like other young people, we need to be empowered – we need access to reproductive health services, we need to be treated for sexual illnesses…” For now, Esther and Winnie join a long list of women seeking a place to call home.