LGBTQ community eyes on Kenyan Court to decriminalize homosexuality

Kenya High Court is expected to deliver a much-awaited ruling on whether to challenge colonial-era laws against homosexuality or not. The petitioners want the court to declare the colonial-era laws unconstitutional, which criminalizes homosexuality with a hope that the new order will make the life easier for the East African country's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

However, the LGBTQ community fears yet another postponement. The three-judge bench pushed back its decision in February, stating a heavy workload, prompting dismay from a persecuted community who have fought for years to be accepted.

"There are a lot of mixed emotions around this because people are just wary of the fact that it could be postponed yet again," Brian Macharia of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), one of the petitioners, told AFP. "Everyone is just hopeful and we recognise that things could go either way," Macharia added.

The organizations fighting for gay rights are asking the Kenyan High Court to scrap two sections of the penal code that criminalise homosexuality. One section states that anyone who has "carnal knowledge... against the order of nature" can be imprisoned for 14 years. Another provides for a five-year jail term for "indecent practices between males".

"LGBTQ people in Kenya for years and years have faced and suffered violence and harm in unimaginable ways, but justice has not been afforded to them because of the penal code," Macharia added.

However, if the petitioners win the legal battle, Kenya would be the first country in East Africa to decriminalize homosexuality.

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