Here’s Kenya’s first LGBT music video that’s just been banned

A music video dedicated to same-sex love and the plight of LGBT people in Africa has predictably been banned by the Kenyan authorities.

The track, a reworking by Art Attack of the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ song Same Love, features new lyrics and a video boldly depicting the lives of LGBT people in Kenya.

The rap begins with the powerful lyrics: “This song is dedicated to the new slaves, the new blacks, the new jews, the new minorities for whom we need a civil rights movement, maybe a sex rights movement. Especially in Africa. Everywhere. This goes out to you. I feel you.”

The actors in the video are seen kissing and showing same-sex affection and love, which is a social taboo and illegal in Kenya.

“Homophobia is the new African culture, everyone’s the police, everyone’s a court judge, mob law, street justice, kill em when you see em, blame it on the West never blame it on love, it’s unAfrican to try and show a brother some love,” continues the rap.

The video’s already been viewed more than 50,000 times on YouTube, and has caught the attention of the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB).

According to local media, the board has now banned the video “on moral grounds” and urged Kenyans not to distribute or share it.

In a tweet, the KFCB confirmed that, “Same Love music video producers now in trouble for producing a clip promoting homosexuality.”

The outraged board also tweeted that the producers did not seek approval to shoot the video through a filming license, as is required under the law.

Despite the ban, the video remains online and the fuss is only driving more people to view it.

In 2014, the acclaimed Kenyan LGBT film Stories of Our Lives was banned by the KFCB for “obscenity, explicit scenes of sexual activities and [for promoting] homosexuality, which is contrary to [Kenya’s] national norms and values.”

The film’s executive producer was also accused of shooting the film without a licence and faced up to five years in prison. The case against him was later dropped by the state.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Kenya with penalties include five to 14 years in prison. Last year, a proposal to extend the penalty to life in prison and even stoning to death was rejected by the country’s parliament.

Defy the censors and bigots and check out Art Attack’s LGBT music video below.