We must stand up for rights, freedoms of all human beings

Members of the Civil Society demonstrating against impunity wants the Judiciary to take action. [File, Standard]

A legislator demands the National Assembly monitors LGBTIQ funding in Kenya, women are publicly counselled against tight skirts and casual sex relationships in Tanzania and Uganda and 7,000 human-beings are on the run from identity-based violence in South Africa. Our phobias are getting in the way of how we see people and fear-based leadership is accelerating it.

This week, the National Assembly declined to debate a petition introduced by nominated MP Jennifer Shamalla. The motion quotes gay people in the same sentence as words like “sexual deviants” and “non-psychotic medical disorder.” It seeks to compel the NGO Coordination Board to collect fiscal information on the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and all organisations that fund gay groups in Kenya.