LGBTQ+ people in Mombasa recount anti-gay protests

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11/28/2024

MOMBASA — Astraeus O’Levin is tired of strangers telling her they want to kill her. In 2015, as a transgender woman, she left the scrutiny of her family in western Kenya, seeking peace and new opportunities in the tourism sector in the eastern coastal city of Mombasa. Instead she was greeted by children pelting rocks and religious leaders using loudspeakers to blame gay people for everything from bad weather to soccer losses. Men would insult and beat her in the street, only to message her later, looking for sex. Nine years later, Kenyan members of Parliament are debating a bill that would impose a decade-long criminal sentence for actions seeking “to advance, advocate, promote or fund homosexuality.” Protests calling for the expulsion and even death of LGBTQ+ people in Kenya happen every few months.

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