MY QUESTIONS ON KENYA AND MARRIAGE EQUALITY

By Jacob Adams*

In the words of Aristotle “I have gained this from Philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger. Law on the other hand is a regulation enacted by the legislative branch of a government and signed into law, or in some nations created by decree without any democratic process.

The laws in Kenya prohibit homosexuality, and forgive me I will not go into detail explaining those boring statutes enacted into operation. Rather I will task myself with asking questions, Questions that have been burning in my soul or mind, rather.

Do I have to fear?        

Should the law not protect me? Boohoo I am a Kenyan citizen with as much rights as anyone else. But this is not the case here. Fear has travelled from my soul right to my legs as I seek for a breath of life.  

 But why do I remain quiet?

Why haven’t I stood up for my rights?

Human rights to be clear are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. Before you raise your hand to correct me and tell me that homosexuality is not a human right and rather a crime and is comparable to acts such as robbery, murder and should be castigated equally, maybe you may try to explain how homosexuality violates your rights or does mischief to another entity.

Crime can be defined as an action or activity considered to be evil, shameful, or wrong. This is where the debate tends to heat up. Because we live in a world with people of different cultures and religion people tend to think differently.  But we live in an era of liberty, the state of being free. But free to do what?

How can a state claim to have full human rights when in fact this is not true?

                                               

How do I start fighting a law enacted by a state, to have it changed without backlash from the society that may not understand human rights so well as to retaliate against me and maybe even murder me?                                                                                                                                                                                       

How do I show affection towards the person I love without getting expelled from society? Maybe I am weak? Maybe what they say about homosexuality being a state of mind and a teenager experience is true? But alas! Could I have been in transition for all these years? No, I don’t think so.

Comparing a murderer to a homosexual is just plain and imprudent. Even as much as a murderer may choose to kill, levels of Monoamine Oxidase A play a great role in risk taking. But murder is just crime, plain and simple. Because with murder, another human’s right is violated. But what about homosexuality, whose right am I harming?                                                                                                                                         

Does having an affair with a person of the same sex lead to the annihilation of another entity, biotic or abiotic? And no, I am not talking about the spread of HIV here.

What about morals? One may ask. But who chooses what is wrong or right. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. What may seem wrong to me may seem right to you. But who is to judge in this case then? Who is right and who is wrong? In this case the party whose actions do no mischief to another entity is right. It’s called liberty, friends!

In this era then, I have a right to move arm to arm with my loved one without having stones thrown at me, or have my bedroom pleasures (sorry I forgot to mention parental guidance) without having the police knock at my door. But that is not the case. It is very much different. Not with all the witlessness my fellow Africans have about homosexuality. With talk that homosexuality was brought by white men. This is just a conspiracy. Homosexuality is not new. But when mentioned, heads are turned in awe and disbelief.  

“How can people of the same sex sleep together?”

Call it an abomination. Call it blasphemy. But I call it a right. I may not have the power to change the law in one day, besides Rome was not built in a day. Not even did New York attain marriage equality in a day, it had to take them years beginning with the stonewall riots.   

Much as I would love to be in a relationship with the man I love. Maybe this is not the time.

                              

Do I have to hide my sexuality? This brings me back to fear and the Law. Fear could be real or imagined. The latter is not true in this case. Because soon Kenya will have its very own stonewall riots, but for how long till then, I don’t know. Much as I would love to be a part of the victory I would say am a bit skeptical because of the distressing emotion aroused by the fact that I could get killed and my family looked down upon by my actions.

                                                                 

But what does the law say about killing? Maybe until the society fully understands homosexuality can we be ready for a next move. Maybe when the society learns to respect us as human beings that didn’t choose the path of homosexuality because we wanted it but rather we were born this way is when fighting for our rights will make sense. Wait; do not take off your armor because I said we are not ready for war! Because, in trying to educate someone to rid them of ignorance always expect violence. Then you will need the armor. A battle you should be prepared for. Sadly I am not prepared for one. So maybe wake me up in the year 2030. Vision 2030 they say will bring Kenya to economic heights. 

  

But my vision 2030 is for Kenya to have marriage equality.

Jacob Adams*

19-Year old Jacob Adams* is an ardent writer and reader of almost anything that touches on the LGBT community. You will realize that the two links (Acknowledgments to Identity Kenya and PLOS One)he considered herein have some wealth of story and/or reinforcement behind it. This is his premier article on T.S.R. He also has various other articles he has worked on and is currently working on a novel whose thematic concerns inter alia include the ever complicated queer scene.