Fugitives in Their Own Lands: Meet Kenya’s LGBT Refugees

4 minute read
Cynthia is a lesbian activist and refugee from Burundi. She fled her country after authorities found out she was gay. They beat her and cut her with machetes. Here, she lays in bed with her Kenyan girlfriend in the apartment the two shared in Nairobi, Kenya (though they have since moved). Cynthia is due to be resettled in the United States any day now, though that has been the case for months.
Cynthia is a lesbian activist and refugee from Burundi. She fled her country after authorities found out she was gay. She says she was beaten. Here, she lays in bed with her Kenyan girlfriend in the apartment the two shared in Nairobi, Kenya (though they have since moved). Cynthia is due to be resettled in the U.S. any day now, though that has been the case for months.Jake Naughton
By Rachel Lowry

Last summer marked a landmark moment for the gay rights movement in the U.S.: the legalization of same sex marriage. Crowds celebrated on the White House steps, rainbow-tinted profiles exploded across Facebook and thousands of marriage ceremonies in the following months lauded the cultural victory for LGBTs in America. But nearly 9,000 miles away, acceptance remains a mere ideal.

Photographer Jake Naughton, who worked last year with Kenya-based journalist Jacob Kushner, has documented LGBT refugees from East Africa, where leaders are imposing harsher laws on gays and lesbians. They have experienced beatings, torture, public humiliation, extortion, family disownment and sexual abuse. Some have been outed in their high schools, others labeled as terrorists and even put behind bars. Hundreds of them seek a new life in the west, fleeing to Kenya to wait in a refugee camp, Kakuma, for asylum or resettlement abroad—in Europe, Canada, or the U.S. That is, after a long and dangerous wait.

“It can take years, sometimes decades, to be granted asylum to leave Africa,” Naughton tells TIME. “They flee to Kenya, expecting some sense of safety, or at least the ability to securely wait out their processing time when in fact, they walked into the same nightmare.”

Gay equality has a long way to go in Africa. Nearly 90% of the Kenyan population believe homosexuality should not be accepted, according to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center. Of the continent’s 54 countries, only one, South Africa, has legalized same-sex marriage. While Kenya is known to be more liberal to gays and lesbians, homophobia remains rampant throughout the country, amid a rising Evangelical movement. In 2011, President Barack Obama called for expedited resettlement of LGBT refugees, but as Congress allocated little funding for the new legislation, agencies, churches, charities and NGOs that wish to help lack the resources to do so.

Naughton’s pictures depict the living conditions in Kakuma. While the UNHCR covers lodging and offers healthcare access to refugees, living conditions are destitute. “It’s extremely hot, very dusty, with 182,000 people packed into the camp,” Naughton says. “It’s huge, it’s sprawling and it was never designed to hold that many people.”

The photos, taken with a strobe flash, cast an intense light on each refugee. “The light is so bright and so direct, it mimics the intense scrutiny that all these people are under,” he says. “But then by its nature, it casts these deep shadows, which is kind of where the refugees find themselves confined to.”

The refugees’ scars are physical reminders that a new life abroad is worth waiting for: One man poses, a smile thrown off-kilter by a jagged scar from a seven-man machete attack in his apartment after seen with his boyfriend; a woman holds her arm out, showing a deep scar from shoulder to elbow, the fallout of an attack after giving an interview a few years ago on BBC radio.

“As a gay person who came of age after the worst of the experience of the LGBT community here in the U.S., I always felt disconnected from the stories that my mom told me about what my gay uncle experienced,” Naughton says. “But in Kenya, I witnessed that. [It was] amazing to see the way the community came together and supported each other in the face of horrifying violence and hardship and abuse.”

The images are the first part of what Naughton and Kushner envision as a three-part project that follows refugees from beginning to end: from Uganda, where they came from; to Kenya, where they fled to; to the U.S., where two have resettled. “It is our hope to create a record of the experience of the LGBTs that is underreported and unsung,” Naughton says.

Jake Naughton is a photographer with is interested in the intersection of LGBT and immigration issues. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and his work has appeared in Al Jazeera America, Newsweek and the Atlantic.

Rachel Lowry is a writer and contributor for TIME LightBox. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Cynthia is a lesbian activist and refugee from Burundi. She fled her country after authorities found out she was gay. They beat her and cut her with machetes. Here, she lays in bed with her Kenyan girlfriend in the apartment the two shared in Nairobi, Kenya (though they have since moved). Cynthia is due to be resettled in the United States any day now, though that has been the case for months.
Cynthia is a lesbian activist and refugee from Burundi. She fled her country after authorities found out she was gay. She says she was beaten. Here, she lays in bed with her Kenyan girlfriend in the apartment the two shared in Nairobi, Kenya (though they have since moved). Cynthia is due to be resettled in the U.S. any day now, though that has been the case for months.Jake Naughton
A text message a gay refugee from Uganda received from an unknown number soon after he arrived in Kenya. The sender threatened to kill him that same day, and so he went into hiding. Because he is unsure who sent the message, he lived in constant fear. He has since been resettled in the United States.
A text message a gay refugee from Uganda received from an unknown number soon after he arrived in Kenya. The sender threatened to kill him that same day, forcing him to go into hiding. He has since been resettled in the U.S.Jake Naughton
DATE: 6/17/2015 LGBT Refugees — KenyaCAPTION:
Soon after arriving in Kenya, S. says he was attacked by seven men with machetes. Here, he poses for a portrait in the apartment he shared with his boyfriend (though the two have since been resettled in America).Jake Naughton
The office of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission of Kenya, one of the main (and only) Kenyan LGBT advocacy groups.
The office of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission of Kenya, one of the main (and only) Kenyan LGBT advocacy groups.Jake Naughton
S. and J. prepare food for themselves and others in the house they lived in outside of Nairobi.
S. and J. prepare food for themselves and others in the house they lived in outside of Nairobi.Jake Naughton
Soon after arriving in Kenya, S. was attacked by seven men with machetes. Here, evidence of his attack that he submitted as part of his resettlement application. He has since been resettled in the United States.
Soon after arriving in Kenya, S. says he was attacked by seven men with machetes. Here, evidence of his attack that he submitted as part of his resettlement application. He has since been resettled in the U.S.Jake Naughton
DATE: 6/17/2015 LGBT Refugees — KenyaCAPTION:
Cynthia displays a scar she says she received at the hands of Burundian police when they attacked her because of her sexuality.Jake Naughton
S., a gay refugee from Uganda, outside of the apartment building he lived in with around a dozen other LGBT refugees. They say they feel secure, even though they are unsure whether their neighbors know they are gay.
S., a gay refugee from Uganda, outside of the apartment building he lived in with around a dozen other LGBT refugees. They say they feel secure, even though they are unsure whether their neighbors know they are gay.Jake Naughton
Provisions at one of the compounds that the LGBT refugees live in. Overall there are around 100 LGBT refugees in the sprawling camp, and U.N.H.C.R. grouped them together for their safety. In practice, it has had mixed results as the compounds have become targets for anti-LGBT attacks.
Provisions at one of the compounds that the LGBT refugees live in. Overall there are around 100 LGBT refugees in the sprawling camp, and U.N.H.C.R. grouped them together for their safety. In practice, it has had mixed results as the compounds have become targets for anti-LGBT attacks.Jake Naughton
LGBT refugees attend a church service in one of their compounds. They have been kicked out of or barred from other church services in the area, but most of the LGBT refugees are deeply religious. One of the Ugandan refugees in the group is an Anglican minister in Kampala and he leads the group's service each Sunday.
LGBT refugees attend a church service in one of their compounds. They have been kicked out of or barred from other church services in the area, but most of the LGBT refugees are deeply religious. One of the Ugandan refugees in the group is an Anglican minister in Kampala and he leads the group's service each Sunday.Jake Naughton
DATE: 6/18/2015 LGBT Refugees — KenyaCAPTION:
Bibles for sale on the streets in Nairobi. Advocates believe that the increasing prevalence of evangelical christians has led to an increase in homophobia.Jake Naughton
The dance floor at Gipsy, a bar in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday night. Though the city lacks any official gay bars, Gipsy is perhaps the best known unofficial gay bar and caters to expats and Kenyans alike. It is the rare place in Kenya where the LGBT community feels some sense of freedom to be themselves.
The dance floor at Gipsy, a bar in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday night. Though the city lacks any official gay bars, Gipsy is perhaps the best known unofficial gay bar and caters to expats and Kenyans alike. It is the rare place in Kenya where the LGBT community feels some sense of freedom to be themselves.Jake Naughton
The sun sets over Lodwar in northwestern Kenya near where the Kakuma Refugee Camp is located. Kakuma is home to 182,000 refugees from all over the region, including many homophobic countries. Around 100 LGBT refugees from Uganda also call it home.
The sun sets over Lodwar in northwestern Kenya near where the Kakuma Refugee Camp is located. Kakuma is home to 182,000 refugees from all over the region.Jake Naughton

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