Removing Kenya’s Futile Blanket Ban on Homosexual Content in Films to Stimulate Human Rights, Social, Individual and Economic Development

Kenya instituted a blanket ban on films containing homosexual content through the Kenya Film Classification Board Classification Guidelines of 2012. The guidelines informed the decision to ban the film Rafiki, on April 2018 which was upheld by the High Court on 29 April 2020. This paper argues that the blanket ban violates important constitutional freedoms from discrimination, expression and the rights to receive, impart information, intellectual property, human dignity and equality. Intolerance of homosexual content in films reflects the discrimination faced by Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual individuals in Kenya. The stigma they face reduces labor productivity, tourism and Foreign Direct Investment that denies economic growth to individuals, businesses and the country. Individual and societal development relies on questioning dominant narratives on issues such as homosexuality which is a function performed by films. The development of the internet, reactance factor in psychology, cultural dynamism and globalization have made the blanket ban futile. This paper recommends removing the blanket ban and only instituting ‘adult-only’ restrictions on films containing homosexual content if there are graphic scenes of sex and violence. It uses an interdisciplinary approach by reviewing economic, psychological and legal sources to identify qualitative and quantitative information to prove its thesis