The Long Shadow of Colonial Violence Against LGBTIQ+ Kenyans

The spread of norms across time and space pro­duced a troub­ling irony: Les­bian, gay, bisexual, trans­gender, inter­sex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) Ken­yans – once victims of co­lonial vio­lence – are now framed as colo­nizers them­selves. Kenyan LGBTIQ+ indi­viduals are often la­beled “un-African,” framed as “imports from the West,” their iden­tities and bodies alleged not to be Afri­can. This narrative fuels dis­crimination and vio­lence, legiti­mizing harm against LGBTIQ+ per­sons. We argue that such vio­lence is rooted in norms and legis­lation intro­duced by British colo­nialism that pre­vail to this day, though the con­text, ac­tors, and forms of harm have changed. The narra­tive of “un-Africanness” remains cen­tral, pro­foundly impac­ting the lives and liveli­hoods of those tar­geted. We reveal the long shadow of colo­nial violence in these dy­namics, showing how they continue to un­fold even today. To this end, we utilize the con­cepts of norm diffusion and unpack the under­lying forces at work in Kenya, which are deeply em­bedded in glo­bal anti-LGBTIQ+ move­ments.