MP Peter Kaluma Submits a New Bill to Criminalize Homosexuality in Kenya

Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has submitted to the National Assembly a new bill seeking to criminalize homosexuality in Kenya.

The Family Protection Bill proposes a ban on homosexuality, same-sex marriages, and all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) activities and lobbying in the country. It further recommends clamping down on LGBTQ promoters and funding by various groups.

In his bill, Kaluma argues that sex remains a physical state of being male or female observed and assigned at birth, and not an identity one is free to choose and assign themselves.

He states that parents should retain rights to their children’s education, and they must be informed and give consent to their children's sex education.

The bill also proposes the banning of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in pre-primary, primary and secondary school education programs: the teaching of abortion, homosexuality, LGBTQ issues, abortion, and masturbation.

It also seeks to limit the rights to assembly, demonstration, association, expression, belief, privacy, and employment in childcare institutions in respect of homosexual convicts and those engaged in LGBTQ behavior while also prohibiting adoption by homosexuals and LGBTQ persons.

The penalty imposed under the proposed Act ranges from imprisonment of at least 10 years to a death sentence.

The proposed law, Kaluma says, will strengthen the provisions of Article 45 (2) of the Constitution of Kenya, which stipulates that “every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of the parties.”

“The proposed law intended to further the provisions of article 45 (2) of the constitution of Kenya and to protect the family will not only consolidate all existing laws relating to unnatural sexual acts but also increase the penalty for those convicted of engaging or promoting the acts to imprisonment for life or commensurate sentence,” he adds.

In 2019, the High Court in Kenya upheld laws criminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults. Presiding judges Roselyne Aburili, Chacha Mwita, and John Mativo ruled that Section 162 (a) and (c) of Kenya’s Penal Code clearly states that homosexuality is illegal in Kenya.

The court further dismissed claims that the Kenyan LGBTQ community would continue to be stigmatized if homosexuality remained a criminal offense.

“There is no basis upon which the court can say they [LGBTQ community] will be discriminated against. We, [therefore], dismiss the case that they will be discriminated,” said the court. “Stigma is not exclusive to the LGBTQ community. Everyone has the right to access health.”