Before Kenya ruled out anal test exams on gay men, which were conducted by law enforcement to determine whether to gay men had intercourse,Kenya previously allowed this form of harassment to be practiced amongst the people they govern. This is a great concern of how discrimination practices are played out in Kenya. This had only been noticed when Kenya’s LGBT movement had made some noise about the issue forcing this practiced to be ruled out in the country, It isn’t common for issues that create a liability for the LGBTQ in Kenya to become noticed, this is considered a rare victory, or even a miracle. If, a movement can influence some sort of change Kenya perhaps could progress, but there is a team effort which is needed in order for things to progress further on rather than being stagnant.
Institutional Discrimination
When one loses their confidentiality in their HIV status in the Kenyan work place, they’re exposed to discriminating practices by their employers. Employers of Kenya abuse their employees with HIV by demotion, transferring them, refusal of promotion, or even firing them. This can also be said about the LGBT community in Kenya, they’re more prone to losing their jobs facing discrimination amongst their own employers, this results in them having to move place to place, or being shunned by the whole community in general.
According to an article, In kisumu a county in Kenya, teenagers with HIV which attend the schools are being discriminated against. a 17year old born with HIV had attended a boarding school, parents of the 17 year old student had asked the teacher to monitor her use of her drugs for the disease, her teacher then told her colleagues about the disease the girl had, this resulted in her being mentally abused by other teachers in the school. A 16 year old boy also suffered the same abuse as the previous student, teachers had gossiped about him behind his back whilst looking at him as if he wasn’t him at their presence.
Response to Articles
The teachers of the school, the employers of work places, both held a negative stigma towards their underlinings in their environment. It occurs to me that Kenya has a problem with socially isolating both Gays, and people with HIV. Kenya’s negative perceptions create a harsh environment to those who had not chosen to hold a burden of their identity or disease, These groups are not represented well by the Kenyan government, while america is more likely to address these issues, Kenya doesn’t do the same, all this does is restrain them from being persistent with evolving their community. What can Kenya do to fix this? I see it as an opportunity for the leader to be more assertive when setting ways to fix the damage which had been built from the negative views associated with thee individuals who suffer.
Mobs of Kenya have a way of doing what they perceive as self “justice” by tormenting, beating, or killing gay individuals. Police officers are sometimes willing to help, or they’d rather ignore the issue by refusing to help or take statements from these victims. Police officers of Kenya also have a history of sexually abusing trans men/women, gays , and or lesbians of Kenya when apprehending these individuals, most victims are sex workers who had been ridiculed form their jobs and families.The police who are meant to protect society had become something that daunts the society of Kenya.
This speaks in volume of the police’s liability to follow the law, and protect the people of Kenya. This can be compared to what occurs in America, black people being the victims, however in this case people who are associated with the LGBT are suffering the same way by abuse from the law.
This is a way of dehumanizing the LGBT by excluding them from the protection of harms way. Law enforcement essentially disregards them as being human, they see them as outsiders that don’t align with their beliefs.
In the year 2015, President Barack Obama paid a visit Kenya to make brief conversation with president Kenyatta, Obama discussed the possibilities of resolving the laws that harm gays in general.. While Kenya and America are both democratic they do not hold the same moral beliefs. Kenyatta believes gay rights at the moment are not a concern, although it is punishable by 14 years, and has a history of gays being harassed by the stigma Kenyan laws previously instilled into the society of Kenya. Obama had left the meeting with no resolution to the problem that still hasn’t been removed for the depths of Kenya, Kenyatta holding only one perspective of what is important just shows how much his beliefs do not align to what modern America is.
