As we mark the United Nations International Day of Families this May, we reflect on the family’s essential role in society and the importance of inclusive policies that protect all family types.

We must evaluate family-oriented policies at the national level through the lens of diverse family structures as we approach the 2025 World Summit for Social Development. 

Kenya has traditionally defined family through heteronormative structures. The National Policy on Family Promotion and Protection inadequately recognises the diversity of modern Kenyan families.

While claiming to protect and nurture families, this policy often becomes a tool to enforce restrictive standards that discriminate against sexual and gender minorities. 

Anti-rights movements use family-centred rhetoric to undermine the rights of women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and minority populations.

During the International Day of Families, these groups form alliances to promote regressive political positions under the guise of preserving cultural values, pushing a narrow definition of family without acknowledging societal diversity. 

The reality in Kenya mirrors global patterns where families exist in various forms: single-parent households, grandparent-led homes, child-led families resulting from HIV and conflicts, LGBTQ+ households, and collective care arrangements.

These diverse family structures contribute equally to society’s functioning. However, current legal frameworks either criminalise or fail to legitimise these alternative family structures. 

The most notable exclusion occurs in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Access to SRHR is both a fundamental human right and the foundation for community well-being, gender equality, and environmental development.

Discrimination makes it nearly impossible for non-heteronormative families to access essential services. LGBTQ+ youth face serious challenges, including physical abuse at home and healthcare discrimination, often leading to homelessness.

Communities meant to protect women and girls frequently become sites of gender-based violence. 

Kenya’s National Policy on Family Promotion and Protection lacks solutions connecting family structures with gender diversity and sexual identities.

It fails to fully safeguard against sexual and gender-based violence, particularly for vulnerable sexual and gender minorities. Through inaction, the policy enables discrimination against vulnerable groups. 

While the policy emphasises family values, it doesn’t clarify which values it promotes or for whom. Do these values represent love, protection, respect, and dignity?

Values can either foster compassion and justice or reinforce conformity and control. Without clear definitions, harmful interpretations can undermine human rights. 

Sustainable development requires policies addressing everyone’s real circumstances. This means extending family protection laws to recognise all family structures, ensuring universal access to SRHR services, strengthening legal protections against family violence, including marginalised communities in policy development, and incorporating diverse family knowledge in education while addressing harmful stereotypes. 

The 2025 World Summit for Social Development offers Kenya a leadership opportunity. Our family-oriented policies should unite rather than divide.

All people deserve access to dignity, safety, and health services through inclusive policies, redefining “family values” through principles of equality and fairness. 

The writer is a Communications Consultant and a Public Health Advocate at The Legal Caravan