Kenyan authorities have banned a film that tells the love story of two women on the grounds that it promotes lesbianism but activists said the ban would only promote interest in the movie.
‘Rafiki’, a word that means friend in KiSwahili, was this week invited to premiere at the May Cannes Film
festival — the first Kenyan film to receive such an invite.
The Kenya Film Classification Board announced the ban on Friday and said in a tweet: “Anyone found in its
possession will be in breach of law”, referring to a colonial-era Kenyan law under which gay sex is
punishable by 14 years in jail.
Board spokeswoman Nelly Muluka tweeted: “Our culture and laws recognise the family as the basic unit of society.
“The (board) cannot, therefore, allow lesbian content to be accessed by children in Kenya.”
Film director, Wanuri Kahiu, said: “I’m really disappointed because Kenyans already have access to watch films
that have LGBT content, on Netflix, and in international films shown in Kenya and permitted by the
classification board itself.”
“So to then just ban a Kenyan film because it deals with something already happening in society just seems
like a contradiction,” she told Reuters.
The ban represents a reversal by the board whose head, Ezekiel Mutua, praised the film earlier this month.
“It is a story about the realities of our time and the challenges that our kids are facing especially with
their sexuality,” he said on privately-owned HOT 96 FM radio.
Homosexuality is taboo across Africa and people who are gay, face discrimination or persecution.
In recent years, however, campaigners for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights have become
increasingly vocal.
“It’s appalling, it’s a shame … Kenyans will view the film whether it has been banned or not, they will find a way to view it,” Lorna Dias, a lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights activist, told Reuters.
“In fact, Ezekiel Mutua has probably created enough of a platform to make even the least interested people curious.”
The ban coincides with a landmark case brought by gay rights campaigners to repeal Kenya’s law on gay sex
on the grounds that it deprives sexual minorities of basic rights.
The film is adapted from an award-winning short story ‘Jambula Tree‘ by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko.
The film board used a hashtag, #KFCBbansLesbianFilm, that immediately sparked a barrage of supportive
tweets from Kenyans who decried homosexuality.
In 2015, the board banned the film “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
(NAN)
source http://www.punchng.com/kenya-bans-lesbian-love-story-film-rafiki-2/
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