Identity
Aggressive masculinity and virility continue to be associated with notions of Kenyan independence and pride. And to these masculine ideals, homosexuality is anathema. Same-sex practices are thought to be innately Western and un-African and Western-led attempts to pressure Kenya into accepting homosexuality are considered to be colonialist and emasculating in the most profound, private and intimate of ways. Human rights – perceived by many to be Western – encounter similar resistance.
Grassroots rising Given that homosexuality is broadly associated with Western colonialism, high-level Western pressure will clearly not be the key to advancing popular acceptance of homosexuality. Nor is acceptance likely to be driven by popular African political leaders from above. The shift, it seems, will have to come from the grassroots and civil society itself. Indeed, this has been the trend with many gay rights movements across the world in which change began with the broadening of recognition of gay people on the ground. This recognition, in many cases, enabled the fostering of greater respect and acceptance of homosexuality through much time and considerable effort. This, in turn, led to the actual enactment of gay rights at the top. While there have been prominent gay figures in the US for decades, for example, it was only in 2003 that thirteen states actually decriminalized same-sex practices. In fact, even if rights were to be enacted, they would mean little if they lacked popular legitimacy and could be violated with
‘Indeed, recent highlevel pressure from the UK and US on African governments to recognize gay rights badly misfired’
impunity at the grassroots level. South Africa, for example, boasts one of the world’s most extensive charters of LGBT rights yet many areas are currently experiencing “epidemic” levels of anti-gay attacks.
Just a spoonful of Shuga… Ultimately, with or without legal rights, changing the lived realities of gay Africans requires a broad shift of popular attitudes. Altering popular attitudes in Kenya will be no mean feat. Many Kenyans very rarely encounter openly gay people and consider homosexuality to be synonymous with pedophilia, disease and
deviance. In a recent study of attitudes in a Kenyan community, 99% of the 600 surveyed believed that it was impossible for samesex partnerships to be loving or long-term. It would be naïve to think a single sympathetic gay character on television could easily change these understandings, but historical and psychological studies suggest that shows like Shuga could be a great cause of hope. Historians of the US gay rights movement, for example, emphasize the absolutely central role that fictional gay characters on television played in cultivating popular support for the movement, while numerous psychological studies point to the enormous potential for media representations to influence opinion, especially when viewers’ themselves have little direct exposure to a certain issue or group. (Edward Nyanaro, inset, who plays Rayban, a gay character in Shuga II. Edward has refused to acknowledge rumors he is gay)