Last Friday, at the UN Kenya voted against
a resolution that opposed discrimination of people based on their sexuality or
gender identity. Kenya did not give any reason for their negative vote, but on
this issue, Kenya follows an “African-country-herd-mentality.” That is not to say all African HRC members voted against the resolution – Burkina Faso, Congo, Namibia, and Sierra
Leone abstained. Kenyan LGBT advocates had written to the foreign ministry,
asking for Kenya to abstain as well – Here is their letter.
The foreign ministry, headed by Ambassador
Amina Mohamed would like to tell us that she is acting in the interest of the
Kenyan public. Given that Kenya criminalizes gays, it is only natural that they
cannot support any measure that asks for non-discrimination. This is the WILL
of the people. This brings to mind the words of philosopher John Stuart Mill –
Which people?
During the confederacy war in the US, the
Southern States wanted to separate from the Northern states in the confederacy because;
it was “the will” of the people of the South to retain slavery unlike the
northern states that had already abolished slavery. Below the quote from Stuart Mill:
“Suppose, however, for the sake of argument,
that the mere will to separate were in this case, or in any case, a sufficient
ground for separation, I beg to be
informed whose will? The will of any knot of men who, by fair means or
foul, by usurpation, terrorism, or fraud, have got the reins of government into
their hands?… Before admitting the authority of any persons, as organs of the
will of the people, to dispose of the whole political existence of a country, I
ask to see whether their credentials are from the whole, or only from a part. And first, it is necessary to ask, Have the
slaves been consulted? Has their will
been counted as any part in the estimate of collective volition? They are a
part of the population.”
So we ask - Have the Gay and Lesbian Kenyans
been consulted? Has their will been counted as any part in the estimate of the
collective volition? Are they a part of the Kenyan population?
It turns out, that the gay and lesbian
Kenyans had actually expressed their will to Ambassador Mohamed. They did not
ask for Kenya to vote in favour of the resolution – that would be asking too
much, but for the government of Kenya to abstain…
Yet showing the same disdain, the slave keepers would have shown the slaves
asking to be heard, Ambassador Mohamed did not even as much as acknowledge their
letter to her.
Of course Ambassador Mohamed, might well
say, John Stuart Mill, is no authority to quote since he supported
colonization. In fact not only was he in the employ of British East India
Company from 1823 to 1858. In supporting
colonization and its highhanded approach, he used particularly unsavoury words:
“To suppose that the same international customs, and the same rules
of international morality, can obtain between one civilized nation and another,
and between civilized nations and barbarians, is a grave error....To
characterize any conduct whatever towards a barbarous people as a violation of
the law of nations, only shows that he who so speaks has never considered the
subject." He also wrote that "Despotism is a legitimate mode of
government in dealing with barbarians”
In fact Ambassador Mohamed might even say,
Kenya voted against the non-discrimination resolution because Kenya opposes
neo-colonial tendencies of the West. That it is in the interest of the Kenyan
Culture and Religious sensibilities to continue to discriminate against gay and
lesbian people. But I will not tire of saying this – the current climate of discrimination
and criminalization of does not wash away gay and lesbian people from the
Kenyan society.
What it does is impact how they live their
lives – and this has a broader public health impact not just on them but also
on the super cultural and super religious heterosexual people. Ultimately
eliminating structural discrimination and enacting protective structures (laws
and policies), is about enlightened self-interest, it is about doing what is
right for the public good!
One last word about culture – Culture does
not mean “living today through the lenses of the past” but rather exercising
self-agency today, using experiences of the past as an important – but only one
of the source books/codes. Then again, what would I know?
I can only hope – for hope is the guiding
star for me and my kind.
