REPORT: KENYA ‘STONE THE GAYS’ BILL REJECTED

There are reports that efforts to pass a deadly Kenyan anti-homosexuality bill have thankfully come to naught.

According to lawyer Eric Gitari, who is with Kenya’s National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), the ‘stone the gays’ bill was thrown out by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee last week.

The reasons are believed to be because the legislation was deemed unconstitutional, its introduction was un-procedural and its content breached Kenya’s international obligations, he said on Facebook.

Same-sex consensual sex among adults is already illegal in Kenya, with punishment of between five to 14 years imprisonment, but the bill – introduced by the Republican Liberty Party – aimed to dramatically increase these penalties.

If passed, the legislation would have sent any Kenyan citizen found guilty of having gay sex to prison for life.

Any foreigner found guilty of the same offence would have been stoned to death in public and anyone found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” would also be stoned to death in public.

Kenyan gay rights activists Denis Nzioka, told Gay Star News that, “Just because it has been rejected now, it doesn’t mean politicians won’t try, come back, and put forward a new bill. We could very easily have an anti-gay law in two years.”

In March, majority parliamentary leader Aden Duale, compared homosexuality to terrorism but rejected pressure to implement tougher laws against homosexuality.

Watch a debate below between Gitari and the brutal bill’s backer recently broadcast on Kenyan television.