Kenyans less conservative than previously thought, survey shows

Nairobi; Kenya: The cat is out of the bag. That’s because last week Google dropped a bombshell — a real doozy — on Kenya. Kenyans, Google revealed, are addicted to gay pornography. Get this — on a scale of 1 to 100, Kenyans scored a perfect 100. No other country, or people, are more intrigued than Kenyans by homosexuality. Which begs the question — why do Kenyans love gay porn if, as we’ve been led to believe, the country is crawling with virulent homophobes? Why do so many Kenyans spend countless hours trawling the Internet for gay sex? I am flabbergasted and flummoxed. Clearly something doesn’t add up — either Google is lying, or Kenyans are hypocrites. Let’s peel this banana to expose the bare flesh. Perhaps no one really knows what Kenyans are doing — or thinking — except Google. But the shocking news from Google wasn’t just about Kenya. Except for South Africa — which has legalised homosexuality — seven of the top ten countries obsessed with gay sex are in the so-called Third World. It’s even more perplexing that three of the top seven (Pakistan, Nigeria, and India) have large Muslim populations. Only three Western states — Ireland, United States, and New Zealand — made the top ten. But these three sat at the bottom of the top ten. If that isn’t turning facts on their head, then what is? This deflates the popular narrative that homophobia is most poisonous in the Third World and among Muslims.

Let me dig deeper and tell you what Google’s discovery could — may — be saying about Kenyans. First, Google could be saying Kenyans aren’t as homophobic as we’ve been led to believe. Perhaps the loud opposition to homosexuality in Kenya is propagated by a tiny, but well organised and powerful minority. The silent majority could be cowed and afraid to speak up because of the stigma of being branded “ungodly”or “un-African.” Kenya’s mainstream press, the Mosque and the Church, and the political establishment give vent and legitimacy to homophobia. But Google has shown that contrary to this script, Kenyans may have a love affair with same-sex relationships in the privacy of their own web browsers. Gay may be hip.