🍹 Baila Conmigo

It’s a week of firsts at Kessentials; this is the first post I’ll begin with a disclaimer (or five):

1. I’m not trying to change your mind.

2. I’ve tried to express my views on this hot-button topic respectfully. I’m happy to hear/read contrary opinions, but I’d expect similar respect back.

3. I hope anyone who believes the opposite of what I’m about to relay here is open-minded enough to read the post to the end objectively.

4. If you’re incapable of 3, feel free to exit whatever platform you’re reading this on. On Monday, we’ll discuss something a bit less divisive, like Spurs’ rollercoaster of a season.

5. This is the longest Kessentials you’ll read from me. :)

Can’t wait to tête-à-tête with everyone who's left. We might occasionally step on each other’s toes, but that’s the only way we’ll become better dance partners.

I’m no stranger to defending LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2018, I wrote for a blog called Artsiva, to which I submitted an article titled “You’ll Thank Me Later.” I was young, abrasive, and unaware that all the yous therein could make people feel some typa way.

Oh, well, if you don’t mind a shallow preview of today’s post, you can check out my Artsiva post first.

I have A LOT to say about the recent Supreme Court ruling that LGBTQ groups now have the freedom to associate. More still are my thoughts on the conversations I’ve heard in person and read on the interwebs about this ruling.

So this doesn't turn into an essay, I’ll split my general ideas into sections under which I may be forced to bring out the whiteboard.

Un-African

Many of those against LGBTQ individuals in Kenya assert that their sexual orientations are a product of Western influence.

News flash: Precolonial Africa was teeming with LGBTQ practices. Bisi Alimi penned a brilliant post outlining several African communities whose cultures were indifferent to and even welcomed homosexuality.

The repetitive “un-African” and “against our culture” assertions from our politicians are simply a political move–speaking to the majority’s views is a surefire way to secure votes.

I've read numerous tweets claiming that the $16 billion USAID donation was a payoff to guarantee the Supreme Court ruling, that now Kenyans will get visas easier because LGBTQIA+ wako na chama.

Let's test the buoyancy of these egguments in fresh water tuone ka zimeoza ama ziko poa.

Unnatural

I touched on the Adam-and-Eve-not-Adam-and-Steve point on the Artsiva post, but don’t you guys ever wonder how all of us came from these two people? 👀

At some point, someone had to fuck their relative, unless the Bible neglected to mention the part where God created a separate group of genetically diverse people.

If anything's unnatural, I'd say that's it. Necessary, but unnatural.

Otherwise, I think it’s a bit shortsighted to term something unnatural just because you’re not into it. (Ew, how can they eat the dogs we keep as pets? That's unnatural.)

Heck, even animals in the wild have been observed to exhibit same-sex and bisexual tendencies. Plus, gay guys generally won’t be hitting on straights, so I struggle to wrap my mind around the unnatural argument.

God’s Command

I remember my mum walking in on me watching Pretty Little Liars during a scene when Em and Paige were doing the nasty.

As a dutiful Christian mother, she broke the TV and sent me to a conversion camp.

JK.

But she was very clear that gay bad because God hate gay. I, 11 and wet behind the ears, believed her.

Most of the Biblical disapproval of LGBTQIA+ activity is in the old testament. That’s the same old testament that endorsed slavery and prohibited women on their periods from entering places of worship. The pre-Jesus Bible was WILDING.

Paul no-homos here and there in the new testament, which, from what I understand, is meant to update its older counterpart's software. But there's no record of Jesus denouncing homosexuality during his ministry.

I imagine Jesus as this Palestinian hippie preaching love for all and championing a political revolution until Paul came around and wrote tons of letters about him based on the disparate accounts of illiterate disciples.

Anyway, I find it interesting how Christianity picks and chooses which parts of the Bible to take literally and which not to. But I’m not a theologian, so I’ll redirect my concerns to the Christians who cheat, steal, drink, and sleep around but are the first to #SayNoToLGBTQInKENYA on Twitter.

I love me a walking, stone-throwing contradiction.

Religion and The Law

Among the chatter against this small win in LGBTQ people’s rights and freedoms was a startling proclamation by Daddy Owen that gays, bandits, and terrorists wako same WhatsApp.

Besides this argument being ludicrous, aren’t other “sexual sins” (infidelity, fornication) still legal in Kenya, their members allowed to associate and swap notes in whichever forums they wish?

I say prosecutors also throw the book at those guys, then initiate a crackdown on the Kenyans who particularly like lesbian porn.

Do you see how crazy it is to ask the law kuwashwa na pilipili isiyoila?

I stumbled upon this KHRC paper exploring Kenyan religious leaders’ attitudes toward LGBTQIA+ people and related laws. It's a big boy (it might take you ~30 min to read), but if you're interested in creating solutions to African homophobia, I'd say it's what our lecs call “required reading.”

Communicable

Religion is one of the most binary concepts out there. You're either saved or damned, going to heaven or hell, winning the spiritual war or losing it, God's BFF or the scum of the earth.

This outlook explains why they constantly try to get non-believers to cross over to “the good side.” I'll go so far as to say it's also why they think non-believers want them to cross over, too.

There is no gay movement persuading straights to change their sexuality. As far as I know, LGBTQIA+ people are not on a recruitment mission. Maybe, just maybe, the panic about “forfeiting the san[ct]ity of our souls” is a bit overblown.

Kesi Baadaye

Probably the most level-headed (but ill-informed) reservation to the ruling I’ve heard so far: Why are gay people so loud about being recognized?! Hata sisi tukuwe na holidays na mabendera na Supreme Court itutetee.

Besides giving “All lives matter” energy, I’ll have holders of this idea know that “marginalized” isn’t just a cute buzzword one adopts because rainbows look nice.

LGBTQIA+ people are perpetually violated in every way imaginable, especially in homophobic African countries like ours. They lack access to critical medical care because of the stigma surrounding them, which has partly been blamed for the explosion of HIV/AIDS among gay men.

That’s why they need their freedoms and rights explicitly assured by the powers that be. Last I checked, your (straight person’s) president wasn't calling for your throat to be slit based on your sexuality.

All these impediments might make you wonder why anyone would choose to stand under the persistent discriminatory showers. The fact is, most LGBTQIA+ people don't. Sexual orientation is determined by a host of factors, including, you guessed it, genetics.

Partying Shot

As in many African countries, homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya; guilty parties face up to 21 years in prison. And you know what they do to gays in prison… (Outside it, too. In whose arms are they safe?)

Those are just the legal ramifications. Considering the stigma and overall torture being “queer” in this country accompanies, I don’t know how someone who’s not despicable wouldn’t be happy they can now form NGOs.

The Supreme Court ruling has reminded us of what we already knew about the pervasiveness of homophobia in Africa. The whites got us good, and we’re not about to shake this thinking off any time soon.

I hope I live to see the day when Africa reembraces LGBTQIA+ individuals as people who are just trying to love who they love without looking over their shoulders.

They’re not out to destroy the family unit (cheating hetero spouses have that covered just fine) or erode African cultural values. They’re not here to corrupt your kids’ minds (your neglect, TikTok, and the dark web are on it).

Imposing puritanical beliefs and laws onto adults’ private lives paints the accusers in a worse light than the accused.

I urge you to get to know one member of the LGBTQIA+ community. (Again, no one is asking you to sleep with them.) Your newfound acceptance might be just the nudge they need to cut all those damn letters from their name.

Pineapples on pizza? (Yes/No)

Kessentials.