NAIROBI, Sept 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A battle in Kenya’s courts to throw out a British colonial-era law criminalising gay sex has been reinvigorated after India scrapped similar legislation in a landmark ruling last week, LGBT rights campaigners said on Wednesday.

Homosexuality is taboo in the east African nation and the persecution of sexual minorities is rife. Under sections of Kenya’s penal code, gay sex - or “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” - is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

Campaigners are petitioning Kenya’s high court to repeal the sections, saying they violate constitutional rights to equality, dignity and privacy. A three-judge bench is expected to give a date for the verdict on Sept 20.

“We are very encouraged by what we are seeing from India. It is the very same fight that we are fighting here in Kenya,” said Kari Mugo, operations manager at the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, one of the lead petitioners.

“We both have these old colonial laws but also have these modern constitutions that speak for equality, so we are really hopeful that what we are seeing in India will be replicated here.”

India’s top court scrapped a law that punished gay sex with up to 10 years in jail in a historic verdict on Thursday, sparking celebrations in India and across the world where activists are pushing for similar reforms. Read more via Reuters