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Kenya’s Highest Court Upholds Ban on Gay Sex

Nairobi government’s maximum sentences for such offenses vary from five to 21 years in prison.

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REUTERS/Baz Ratner

By Olivia Messer

Kenya’s highest court on Friday ruled unanimously to uphold federal laws that criminalize gay sex, which make it a felony to have “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature” or to commit “gross indecency.” The country’s maximum sentences for such offenses vary from five to 21 years in prison, according to The New York Times. More than 70 countries, many of which are former British colonies, still criminalize gay sex. Eric Gitari, a co-founder of a Kenyan civil rights group, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, called Friday a “sad day for the rule of law and human rights.”

Read it at The New York Times

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