NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s High Court on Friday upheld laws that criminalize gay sex, declining to join the handful of nations that have recently abolished a prohibition imposed by Britain during the colonial era. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the court, announced in a courtroom packed with activists who wanted to see the laws overturned, keeps Kenya aligned with most of Africa. Anti-gay laws and conservative cultural mores remain prevalent across most of the continent. In addition to the threat of prosecution, discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are common.

The justices ruled that the laws were not discriminatory, and they rejected an argument by the plaintiffs that the statutes discouraged people from seeking treatment for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

Anti-gay views are strongly held by many Kenyans. Cursing and shaking his head, Raphael Kimeu, 56, a waiter at a Nairobi restaurant, said that tolerating homosexuality “is tantamount to showing disrespect to the same God who created us.”

Yvette Cheptoo, 18, a student in Nairobi, said she thought the ruling would have little effect on how gay people are viewed. “The discrimination will still be there because being homosexual in our African traditions is unacceptable,” she said. “Most churches and religions in Africa are against it.”

But she said the rights of all people should be recognized, no matter what their sexual orientation or gender identity, reflecting the same kind of generational divide in attitudes seen in many parts of the world. Read more via New York Times