Antigay Sentiment Poses Dilemma for Kenya Ahead of Obama Visit

NAIROBI, Kenya—When men shouting antigay slurs threatened to bust into Ronald Waswa’s apartment here this month, his landlord called the police. But the officers didn’t just stop the intruders—they held Mr. Waswa and his three roommates for 10 hours, beating them while trying to extract confessions they were gay. “They said, ‘You’ll have to wait for Obama to save you,’ ” recalled Mr. Waswa... A Kenyan police spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The episode reflects a sentiment being voiced increasingly loudly across parts of Kenyan society ahead of Mr. Obama’s visit—his first as president and his first African trip since gay marriage was legalized in the U.S.

The White House, in response to a question, said the president during his visit would raise the issue of gay rights as a matter of “basic universal human rights.” That prospect has enraged Kenyan conservative groups, who have warned the president not to bring pro-gay rhetoric to the country. One Christian group organized a protest this month to petition Mr. Obama to avoid the subject. A Kenyan parliamentarian started a Twitter campaign with the same message.

While most of Kenya is overjoyed at the visit, the country’s vocal antigay movement is protesting and issuing condemnations. The uproar threatens to upset the government’s delicate balancing act in a country where homosexuality is illegal but starting to become more accepted.

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The louder antigay voices come as Kenya—whose laws provide for prison sentences of as long as 14 years as punishment for homosexual acts—has made recent strides toward greater gay rights. Kenya’s highest court ruled in April that gay and lesbian groups have a right to formally register under constitutional provisions that prohibit discrimination. Activists are using the strategy of gaining freedom of association as a first step toward broader rights.

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In comparison to some other African nations, Kenya takes a progressive stance on homosexuality, striving for compromise between constituencies that call homosexuality an abomination and gay activists prominent in the young technocracy the country wants to nurture. Same-sex acts are illegal in 34 African nations, according to the Geneva-based International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. While in many cases the laws are colonial-era leftovers that aren’t widely enforced, recent years have seen revisions in some countries toward harsher punishments. A Nigerian law passed last year criminalized meetings of gay groups. A Ugandan law that was annulled last August after eight months because of a procedural technicality introduced a life sentence for homosexuality.

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Many gay activists are hoping Mr. Obama will stay quiet as well—rather than fanning the flames of a debate that could cause a backlash. When the president spoke out strongly on the subject in a visit to Senegal in 2013, he was chastised and some gay-rights activists said it hurt their cause.

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