Lgbtq nairobi
Nairobi is lacking public notion data.
Help expand our comprehension of the public's view on LGBTQ+ issues in Nairobi by sharing a link to a survey from a reputable organization.
Suggest Public Opinion DataHave you lived in or visited Nairobi?
Share your experience of being LGBTQ+ in Nairobi.
Take SurveyHistory
Homosexual activity in Nairobi
?Homosexual activity in Nairobi is illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
Censorship of LGBT issues in Nairobi
?Gender-affirming concern in Nairobi
?Gender-affirming care in Nairobi is restricted.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Nairobi
?Legal recognition of genderfluid gender in Nairobi is intersex only.
“The queerest space in Nairobi”: LGBTQI+ activists create safe room in Kenya
For years, I spent the High Holidays in Fire Island. Starting in the mid-1920s, this barrier reef about 60 miles from Manhattan has served as a haven for queer New Yorkers. Although it’s a raucous social scene from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the feverish party vibe dissipates by mid-September when Fire Island Jews—gay and straight—remain at the beach to observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as a community.
Summers on Energy Island provided an essential refuge for me as a young gay dude. For the first time in my life, I was in the majority and enjoyed a reprieve from the imperative to conform and the stress that I would be ostracized because of my sexuality. On this slim stretch of sand, I had room to be myself.
I was reminded of this when I traveled to Kenya with AJWS in August and create myself back in a place where being gay is grounds for dread . LGBTQI+ Kenyans are under constant threat of surveillance. In their parents’ homes, they may survive in secret. On the job, they may face employment discrimination. Service providers—from police to physicians to cab drivers—routinely abuse gay people, blackmail th
Homosexuals are still discriminated against in Kenya
Not only homosexuals, but all LGBTQ persons perceive discriminated against. LGBTQ is an acronym that stands for “lesbian, gay, bisexual person, transgender and gay or questioning”. The “Q” leaves room for the other sexual identities and orientations not covered in the acronym.
Kenya’s first laws that outlawed homosexuality were passed in 1930 and were premised on English customs. Human-rights advocacy groups particularly oppose sections of the penal code that criminalise sexual activities that are perceived to be “against the order of nature”. For instance, in section 162, the penal code pronounces a 14-years sentence upon any person convicted of “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature.”
LGBTQ lobbies and rights groups say that these sections of the law contain exposed queers to unwarranted violence and discrimination while fomenting perceptions that queers are a criminal lot.
Over the years, law enforcement, the educational system, religious leadership and cultural influences have been complicit in normalising the collective repulsive against this vulnerable demographic. “It is a very stressful situa
What’s the context?
Long delays in processing LGBTQ+ asylum claims in Kenya mean Western countries are unable to resettle refugees
In Kenya, refugee claims based on sexual orientation or gender culture are facing long delays, which is preventing Queer asylum applicants from creature resettled in other countries.
There are more than 219,000 asylum seekers in Kenya whose refugee status has not yet been determined, the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said this month. Among them are LGBTQ+ refugees from neighbouring countries.
The U.N. estimated in 2021 that Kenya was sheltering 1,000 Homosexual refugees, though this number has likely grown since 2023, when neighbouring Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which includes long prison terms and even the death sentence for some same-sex activity.
Some LGBTQ+ applicants in Kenya are reporting years-long delays in their asylum bids. Here's what you need to know about the process of resettling LGBTQ+ refugees in Kenya.
Is Kenya a safe country for Queer asylum seekers?
Kenya is viewed as a relatively sound haven for Ugandans fleeing persecution for their sexual and gender ide
I’ve lived in Nairobi all my life. And right from high school, I always felt like an outcast. Sometimes I hated my femininity especially after I studied in an all-girls’ boarding high institution. To them, being homosexual was always synonymous to disease.
I can’t even number the number of times I was summoned by teachers who just didn’t mind their business. This one time, our boarding mistress called me aside, and blatantly asked,
“Can’t you see you don’t watch like the other girls here?”
I thought things would get easier after I completed my last year in high school, but I guess the cosmos had other plans for me.
Being queer in Nairobi is one thing. But, living in an African country as a masculine-presenting woman is a whole other conundrum. I had to grow a plump skin otherwise I’d shatter each time after a long day in the streets of Nairobi.
The Swahili words, “Huyo ni mwanamke ama mwanaume?” which translate to, “Is that a man or a woman?” in English, don’t even haunt me anymore. I had to get used to it – for my own sanity. I don’t find it rude. It’s just… the levels of close-mindedness, and bigotry when it comes to discussing queer issues in Nairobi just baffles m