With the topic, Hatua, a project of the Mohamed Amin Foundation, supported by a grant from the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA), aimed to highlight human rights issues surrounding the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Kenya and to open a dialogue around homosexuality.
Toni Kamau, producer of Hatua, said “this is the first time ever where the LGBTI has had the chance to air their views on national television”. She emphasized that the show was successful in raising the concern that discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is a human rights issue.
A Kenyan LGBTI activist, Lourence Misedah, who was part of the panel, feels that the show was a good start to get people talking about homosexuality.
“I think this was a good start for opening up dialogue into making the public aware of what LGBTI people really are, without any biases since there were LGBTI people in the show speaking out to demystify some of the myths and misconceptions”, he said.
Since homosexuality is prohibited and criminalized under section 162-165 of the Kenyan Penal code, BTM asked Misedah if taking part in the show would not endanger his life and he said “considering the pains I went through after coming out last year, I am a bit nervous since I shared my experience of the way I was treated in campus”.
He added that the show will be an eye opener to many and will give people a better understanding of LGBTI rights and issues, even those that could not be fully covered within the 45 minutes of the show. “It is therefore my hope that there would be follow up.”
LGBTI activists in Kenya state that homosexuality is still taboo and homosexuals still meet in private and many of them do not want to come out for fear of discrimination. Healthcare rights, the right to marry and the right to be are still a far fetched dream.
The show intended to reflect different opposing views by including both the LGBTI and heterosexual participants, bringing to the fore diverse views and strong debate. “HATUA is a balanced show promoting balanced journalism. We had to include people with opposing views in order to discuss the role society plays in terms of abuse of the lgbti human rights as well as to discuss the issue of acceptance in society” added Toni Kamau, producer of the show.