Organised by, among others, UHAI - The East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative and Akiba Uhaki Foundation in conjunction with the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), the lecture was also open to interested members of society.

 

"The purpose of the public lecture was to move the conversation on sexual minority rights from acrimonious rhetoric to conscientious and reasoned discourse that is buttressed by the understanding of the inalienability of the human rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual person," said Happy Mwende Kinyili, Programmes assistant at UHAI.

 

Mwende added, "We wanted to openly and honestly create a safe space to discuss an issue that is often limited to sound bites and minimal information, and through this, to highlight the specific issues that are at stake and how to begin to address the deep questions of human rights violations posed."

 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and all human rights are universal, interdependent, indivisible and interrelated, was the theme of the lecture. The talk also hoped to "point out the human face of this issue that is often treated as an issue with no human element, with a view to reduce the violations and stigma suffered by Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual individuals in Kenya".

 

"While the rights discussed were specifically those of lesbian, gay and bisexuals, we do hope to extend the conversation to include questions of transphobia and other aspects of sexual minorities' rights, often ignored and misunderstood," Mwende concluded.

 

Article by: Lesego Tlhwale (BTM Intern)