Kenya has raised a proposal pegging the punishment for same-sex unions and non-consensual sex at a 50-year jail term.
Tagged Family Protection Bill 2023, the draft law sponsored by Homa Bay Town legislator Peter Kaluma, is also recommending a ban on homosexuality, same-sex relations and any LGBTQ activities and campaigns.
The proposed legislation is equally seeking to prohibit gay parades, assemblies and marches on streets, and cross-dressing in public.
“A person who engages in sexual act with a person of the same-sex without the consent of the other person shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years and not exceeding 50 years,” the bill reads in part.
Owners of premises used for same-sex relations will pay a fine of $14,000 (£11,000) or face a jail term of seven years, the bill proposes.
Cerics and some civil society organisation groups had last week held anti-LGBTQ protests in the coastal city of Mombasa, following re-enforcement by Kenya’s Supreme Court of a decision in mid-September to allow the registration of LGBTQ non-governmental organisations.
Kenya’s NGO Coordinating Board had declined to register the National Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission, saying it “promotes same-sex behaviour”, dragging the case for a decade.
The Supreme Court deems the move discriminatory and unconstitutional, hence allowing LGBTQ organisations to register in a landmark ruling.
