NAIROBI — Kenya’s high court has upheld colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex.



A presiding judge said petitioners had failed to prove that LGBT people were specifically being discriminated against by the penal codes, or that LGBT people had been denied health care on the basis of their sexuality.

Friday’s ruling comes after a three-year fight led by Kenyan civil rights attorneys and LGBT activists who wanted the court to abolish two colonial-era penal codes that described gay sex as “against the order of nature,” a felony that could result in up to 14 years in prison. Today’s decision was initially meant to be handed down in February, but it was delayed because not all the presiding judges were present.

Njeri Gateru, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), said in a statement that the organization “has seen time and time again how these old colonial laws lead to the LGBT community suffering violence, blackmail, harassment, and torture. They devastate people’s lives and have no place in a democratic Kenyan society.”

“It’s not a good feeling but there’s nothing we can do. We have to respect the court and respect their decision, inasmuch as we feel it’s not fair," said Gatura Gatura, a law student who has volunteered with the NGLHRC and was present for the court’s decision.

The NGLHRC, the main petitioner in the case, confirmed it would lodge an appeal at the Court of Appeal.