Facing Our Fears: The Impact of a 4-Day Training Intervention to Reduce Negative Perspectives on Sexual and Gender Minorities among Religious Leaders in Kenya.

This study evaluated short- and long-term impact of a 4-day training intervention to reduce negative perspectives of religious leaders in Kenya on sexual and gender minorities, adopting a one-group pretest-posttest-follow-up design. Religious leaders' perspectives play an important role in maintaining the negative status quo for sexual and gender minorities, especially in Africa, where religion's impact is ubiquitous and holding negative attitudes against these populations is perceived as an expression of doctrinal orthodoxy. The training, developed by a community-based organization, employs a variety of strategies, including education, storytelling, and in-person contact. Data were collected directly before and after the training, and at 3- to 4-months follow-up. After the training, acceptance of lesbian women and gay men and gender diversity had increased, while attitudes toward gender and sexual minorities became more positive. Interaction effect analysis showed that compared to women, men changed more, as did those who scored higher on religious fundamentalism. Changes in attitudes were maintained at follow-up (three to four months). Although it is not clear whether the training had an impact on the religious leaders' interactions with members of their congregation, these findings suggest that intensive trainings may promote positive changes in their perspective on gender and sexual minorities.

Police Discrimination, Misconduct, and Stigmatization of Female Sex Workers in Kenya: Associations with Delayed and Avoided Health Care Utilization and Lower Consistent Condom Use.

Discrimination and violence against sex workers by police are common in many populations and are associated with negative health outcomes, as well as being per se violations of human rights laws and norms. There is a close and mutually reinforcing nexus between legally actionable rights violations and stigma, and reducing human rights violations against sex workers likely requires both legal and societal interventions that address both. In this paper, we first aim to estimate levels of discrimination, violence, and stigma against women sex workers by police in Kenya. Second, we aim to estimate the association between manifestations of discrimination and stigma, on the one hand, and general health care utilization and consistent condom use, on the other. Using data from a survey of Kenyan sex workers, we document widespread discrimination and stigma. Through regression analyses, participants with the highest levels of all three categories of manifestations of discrimination and stigma reported significant lower consistent condom use. Those with the highest levels of witnessed/heard manifestations were significantly more likely to delay or avoid needed health care, and the highest level of experienced manifestations were associated with a marginally significant increase in delay or avoidance. Our findings document a plethora of violations of human rights obligations under Kenyan and international law.

Kenyan Religious Leaders' Views on Same-Sex Sexuality and Gender Nonconformity: Religious Freedom versus Constitutional Rights.

Religion plays an important role in framing the public discourse on sexuality, especially in countries where religion fully permeates social life. We explored the perspectives of Kenyan religious leaders on sexual and gender diversity in their country's specific context. A total of 212 Catholic, Islamic, and Protestant leaders from urban centers and rural townships completed a self-administered questionnaire specifically developed for this study. The leaders' perspectives were predominantly negative. Limited acceptance was conditional on sexual minorities not engaging in same-sex practices or seeing such practices as sinful. A substantial minority (37%) endorsed the use of violence for maintaining social values, especially regarding homosexuality and gender nonconformity. The majority of religious leaders agreed on the difference between civil law and religious doctrine. Human rights principles enshrined in Kenya's Constitution were considered to be applicable to sexual and gender minorities. Decriminalization of same-sex sexuality was seen as against one's religion. Perspectives were less negative if leaders were familiar with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. Interventions that promote intergroup contact could be effective in changing religious leaders' mind-sets and advancing human rights and health for sexual and gender minorities.