Kenyan film director argues ‘Homosexuality is not un-African, homophobia is’

May 01 2014
Written by Stefan Nichols

A prominent film maker in Kenya has called for greater tolerance of gay Africans across the continent.

Wanuri Kahiu believes that “homophobia is un-African, and that homosexuality is not.”

Born in Nairobi, the 33-year-old studied in the UK before continuing her education in the US, where she enrolled on a film-making course.

Last year she produced “Homecoming”, a film based on the award winning novel, Jambula Tree by Monica Arac. The story centres on the love between two women in a country where same-sex activity is illegal.

When asked about her views, Ms Kahiu said: “Homosexuality is not un-African, what is un-African is homophobia.”

She added: “I wanted to tell this story because of the profound love that the man characters had for each other.

“Even though it’s a hard subject because it’s taboo, it was very important for me to tell a love story because that’s what it is: how true love can triumph over everything.”

In March, Kenya’s parliamentary majority leader claimed that homosexuality is something as serious as terrorism, saying, “We need to go on and address this issue the way we want to address terrorism.

“It’s as serious as terrorism. It’s as serious as any other social evil.”