Win for LGBTQ community as supreme court rules in their favour.
Win for LGBTQ community, this comes after the apex court of Kenya, reprimanded the NGOs Co-Ordination Board for refusing to register four names for an LGBTQ organisation citing that same-sex marriage is not allowed in Kenya.
In the five judge benched , Three judges in the sitting ruled that community members have a right to associate even though the law considers same-sex marriages illegal.
They added that the action of exempting them from the association because of their sexual preference, is discriminatory.
The verdit read,”It would be unconstitutional to limit the right to associate through denial of registration of an association purely based on the sexual orientation of the applicants.”
The supreme court added that in article 27 of the constitution, the word ‘ sex’ means the sexual orientation of any gender, whether heterosexual, lesbian, gay, intersex, or otherwise.
The verdict read,”It was of the view that the word “including” under the same Article is not exhaustive, but only illustrative and would also comprise “freedom from discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.”
“Therefore, the appellant’s action of refusing to reserve the name of the 1st respondent’s intended NGO on the ground that “Sections 162, 163 and 165 of the Penal Code criminalises Gay and Lesbian liaisons” was discriminatory in light of Section 27(4) of the Constitution,” the court added.
The NGO board has rejected the following; National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, National Coalition of Gays and Lesbians in Kenya, National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Association, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Council, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Observancy and Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Organisation.
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