Rights groups have hailed the ruling as a "tremendous step" for gay rights in the conservative country. Kenya has been listed by LGBTQ rights groups as a country that sponsors homophobia through its laws and policies.
Supporters of the Kenyan LGBT community staged protests demanding more rights in Kenya and other parts of East AfricaImage: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Kurokawa
Advertisement
Kenya's Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that the use of forced anal exams used to determine whether homosexual men engaged in sex is illegal.
A day after the court ruled in favor of the lesbian and gay community, community members held an indoor meeting in Mombasa, to celebrate their victory and look at the way forward.
Speaking out
Esther Adhiambo was one of the participants. She is an officer at Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination. Adhiambo said the meeting was set to understand what it meant exactly to win such a case.
"We are human rights defenders, we understand. So how do we then trickle this down to the gays and transgender on the ground? So that was basically a collective of organizations that advance human rights for lesbians, gays and bisexuals in Mombasa," said Adhiambo.
She added that the court ruling had motivated gay people to speak openly about the pain of such medical tests which have for a long time been conducted on suspected gay and transgender people. "Most people were not coming out, but after the case went to court there were people who actually said that this was done to me. It is something that has been going on silently."
The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) took the case to court after two men were arrested in 2015 on suspicion of having sex.
According to the men, authorities forced them to undergo anal examinations by hospital staff and security personnel. They also said authorities forced them to submit to HIV tests.
'Tremendous step'
The NGLHRC argued the tests violated the men's constitutional rights. A Kenyan court in 2016 ruled that such tests were constitutional and, as such, within the scope of use for authorities. Thursday's ruling overturned that decision.
"The ruling is a tremendous step not only in upholding the dignity of homosexuals who'd been subjected to the indignities of anal examinations but also to the rule of law in Kenya," said Eric Gitari, who heads the NGLHRC.
The court overturned a lower court's ruling that anal exams were legalImage: picture alliance/AP/B. Curtis
Some Kenyans from of the gay and lesbian community in Mombasa celebrated the win, saying that it meant a lot to them.
Kennedy Mwendwa was one of them. He said that they were not subjected to any form of violence. "Because of the community I come from, it’s important for people to know that you are not part and parcel of violence this means that they’re not going to be violated." Mwendwa said.
Esther Nelima, a program officer at Coast Sex Workers Alliance, said the decision will allow many gay people to visit health facilities because they will no longer be stigmatized by having to undergo anal examinations.
"We are human beings irrespective of what we do, irrespective of where we come from. We are entitled to those rights and we expect other people also to treat us the same the way we would also treat them," Nelima said.
State-sponsored homophobia
In Kenya, same-sex sexual activity is outlawed and punishable by 14 years in jail. Before Thursday's ruling, Kenya was one of eight countries that allowed forced anal exams.
The others are Cameroon, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Zambia, according to Human Rights Watch.
"The violating examinations, which include being made to lie with legs up in a humiliating position and having instruments forced into your rectum, are widely accepted to have no medical merit," said NGLHRC.
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has listed Kenya on its list of countries that sponsor homophobia through its national laws and policy. The NGLHRC has also challenged Kenya's laws targeting homosexuality.
Countries that have legalized same-sex marriage
Ecuador became the latest country to allow same-sex marriage when its Constitutional Court ruled for two gay couples in June 2019. DW takes a look at some of the other countries that have taken the step.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA Wire/O. Messinger
2001, The Netherlands
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to permit same-sex marriages after the Dutch parliament voted for legalization in 2000. The mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, wedded the first four same-sex couples at midnight on April 1, 2001 when the legislation came into effect. The new law also allowed same-sex couples to adopt children.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ANP/M. Antonisse
2003, Belgium
The Netherlands' neighbor, Belgium, followed the Dutch lead and legalized same-sex marriage two years later. The law gave same-sex partners many of the rights of their heterosexual counterparts. But unlike the Dutch, the Belgians did not initially allow same-sex couples to adopt children. The Belgian parliament passed a bill granting them that right three years later.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/J. Warnand
2010, Argentina
Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriages when its Senate voted 33 to 27 in favor of it in July 2010. Argentina thereby became the tenth country in the world to permit gay and lesbian marriages. The South American country was not the only one to do so in 2010. Earlier in the year, Portugal and Iceland also passed same-sex marriage legislation.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/L. La Valle
2012, Denmark
Denmark's parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of legalization in June 2012. The small Scandinavian country had made headlines before when it was the first country in the world to recognize civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in 1989. Same-sex couples had also enjoyed the right to adopt children since 2009.
Image: picture-alliance/CITYPRESS 24/H. Lundquist
2013, New Zealand
New Zealand became the 15th country worldwide and the first Asia-Pacific country to allow gay and lesbian marriages in 2013. The first couples were married on August 19. Lynley Bendall (left) and Ally Wanik (right) were among them when they exchanged vows on board an Air New Zealand flight from Queenstown to Auckland. France legalized same-sex marriage the same year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/Air New Zealand
2015, Ireland
Ireland made headlines in May 2015 when it became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage through a referendum. Thousands of people celebrated in the streets of Dublin as the results came in showing almost two-thirds of voters opting for the measure.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/A. Crawley
2015, USA
The White House was alight in the colors of the rainbow flag on June 26, 2015. Earlier, the US Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the constitution guaranteed marriage equality, a verdict that paved the way for same-sex couples to be married across the country. The decision came 12 years after the Supreme Court ruled that laws criminalizing gay sex were unconstitutional.
Germany became the fifteenth European country to legalize gay and lesbian marriages in June 30, 2017. The bill passed by 393 to 226 in the Bundestag, with four abstentions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel voted against the bill, but paved the way for its passage when she said her party would be allowed to vote freely on the measure only days before the vote took place.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA Wire/O. Messinger
2017 - 2018, Australia
Following a postal survey which showed the majority of Australians were in favor of same-sex marriage, the country's parliament passed a law to legalize it in December 2017. As couples in Australia have to give authorities one month's notice of their nuptials, many of the first weddings took place just after midnight on January 9, 2018 - including that of Craig Burns and Luke Sullivan, pictured.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P. Hamilton
2019, Taiwan
In May 2019, the island state became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. The government survived an attempt by conservative opposition to water down the bill. Gay couples are able to offically register their marriage from May 24 onwards. President Tsai Ing-wen called it "a big step towards true equality."
Image: dapd
2019, Ecuador
The Andean state's top court ruled 5-4 to allow two gay couples to marry in June. The decision followed a ruling from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights affirming that countries should allow same-sex couples the right to marry.
