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Kenya is the only country in East Africa to offer asylum to LGBTQ+ people fleeing oppressive laws in neighbouring countries such as Uganda.

But for many LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, it has become another place of abuse, where they live on the margins awaiting official refugee status, and must still hide their true selves.

While the country still hosts LGBTQ+ refugees, asylum seekers say their applications are on hold — sometimes for years. 

And John Burugu, the country's refugee commissioner, previously told Context that Kenya would not count persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity as a free pass to asylum, after at least a decade of offering sanctuary to LGBTQ+ people.

At the same time, the region's rising anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is now taking root in Kenya, with conservative politicians pushing harsher laws in a country where same-sex relations are already illegal. 

Why is Kenya no longer a safe place for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers? And how much longer can they remain in a country that is becoming increasingly hostile towards queer people?

We traveled to Nairobi to find out.

This story is part of a series supported by Hivos's Free To Be Me programme.

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