Local TV station, K24, aired a feature on Sunday night of men in the lakeside town of Kisumu who were married to women but are homosexual in the continued coverage of HIV dynamics in Kenya.
The feature The Invisible Bridge, which is a 3 part series will air at 9pm through to Tuesday and follows the lives of Biko Nyawita, a married man who has children but who sleeps with other men in his matrimonial bed so that he can be aroused and have sex with his wife.
Biko confessed to realizing he was different when he was 15 and engaging in sex with men till he was 23 when he was brought a wife by his sister. Biko, a Luo, says that tribal customs require a man to be married at his age even if they are gay. He has a 5 year old son.
‘I came to realize my sexual orientation was not for women when I was 15. I was attracted to men since then and when I turned 24, my sister brought me a girl to marry,’ Biko told K24.
The marriage did not stop Biko from engaging in sex with other men.
Biko’s wife said that she was okay with her husband being gay and had no problem sharing a bed with her husband and another man for sex between him and her to happen.
- Wife says husband sex with gay husband only possible during threesome sex with another man HIV dynamics of married men who have sex with other men high, rising, according to data
- Man and wife have ‘arrangement’ to have sex with men in matrimonial home
- 9,000 women get infected with HIV from their husbands who have had sex with other men
- Male sex workers say majority of clients are bisexuals, married men with children
- Feature claims 4 out of 10 gay men have been married to women before; 1 out of 10 currently married still
Biko’s wife confesses they went for up to 3 months without having any sexual intercourse and also reveals that her husband was fond of bringing boys to the house.
The show, that will also feature a male sex worker, is being aired at a time when HIV statistics show that men who have sex with men (MSM) account for more than 15.2% of new HIV infections annually in Kenya.
According to data released by the National AIDs and STI Control Programme (NASCOP), 60% of MSM are currently married to women with further estimates showing that more than 9,000 women get infected by HIV from MSM each year in Kenya.
Biko, who is now at a safe house for fear of repercussions after the show aired, says that his arrangement with his wife allowed him to have sex with her and both of them have no issue with it.
‘If my husband does not have a man in bed during sex, he cannot get aroused. It was this way that I got pregnant’ says Biko’s wife.
According to Leonard Mutisya, who runs Kisumu Initiative for Positive Empowerment (KIPE), an organization that looks after the health needs gay men, bisexual and MSM in Kisumu, MSM have women and men they trust and says, that the ‘multiplicity of sexual relationships’ increases HIV risk in MSM.
Biko says he has up to seven (7) male sexual partners and engaged in unprotected sex with more than half of them.
He also said this number increases up to fifteen (15) especially when school are closed.
‘The sub groups, such as MSM may be contributing more to number of new HIV infections in Kenya than people actually realize,’ said Scott Giebel from Population Council who is also featured.
The second installment of The Invisible Bridge is scheduled for tonight on K24 at 9pm and will detail the life of a male sex worker, Mama G. The last part will air same time on Tuesday.
by Denis Nzioka, Daily News
Source – Identity Kenya
