LGBTIQ students kicked out of school in East Africa are fighting back

mambaonline.com:

Protestors in Kenya demanded equal access to education for LGBTIQ students (Pic: @fahe_k / Twitter) A young basketball player was branded a lesbian and kicked out of her Christian school.

A male student accused of “gayism” was beaten, interrogated and then expelled from his Muslim school. These are among the shocking stories told to openDemocracy by victims of the homophobic, religious and colonial laws and attitudes that have seen generations of LGBTIQ children driven out of schools in East Africa.

But queer people in Kenya and Uganda are fighting back. Last month, members of Kenya’s LGBTIQ community took to the streets of Nairobi in protest at the cabinet secretary for education, George Magoha, saying that gay and lesbian students should be banned from boarding schools.

Not surprisingly, Magoha’s remarks (made in December) incited homophobic attacks online and in schools. “Two students came to the march and they’ve been driven away from school for being lesbian […they’re only going back for] their final O-level exams in March,” said Marylize Biubwa from the Queer Republic, the international collective behind the protest.