The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) was established in May 2006 following the convening of local and regional lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists by Urgent Action Fund (UAF) a local women’s rights organization. As the national umbrella organization, GALCK made considerable gains in increasing the voice and visibility of the sexual orientation gender identity and expression (SOGIE) movement until 2011/2012. The latter period, characterized by organizational and financial management challenges, brought almost all GALCK’s regular functioning to a standstill. In 2013, in a demonstration of extraordinary resilience, the community established the GALCK Reloaded Task-force (GRT) to re-activate and restructure the Coalition and re-establish its position at the center of the Kenyan SOGIE movement. Since then, the Coalition under the stewardship of the voluntary GRT has grown from strength to strength, shedding a very positive and promising light on the future of the Kenyan SOGIE movement.
Founded in 2006, six organizations are members of GALCK:
GALCK's resource centre in Nairobi opened in 2008. The centre functions as offices for the six organizations. A week before World Aids Day on 1 December 2008, GALCK mobilized 230 LGBTI people to attend voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services held at the centre. This was the first time in Kenya that VCT services specifically targeted LGBTI people. Important lessons were learned about the existing VCT policy and implementation gaps, and GALCK is working with the National AIDS Control Council (NACC), in collaboration with Liverpool VCT, Care and Treatment (LVCT), to address these gaps. One notable gap is that HIV prevalence among the LGBTI community was found to be 23 percent, double the previous estimate of 9.3 percent.
GALCK has built coalitions with mainstream organizations, like the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and with HIV/AIDS bodies, including LVCT and the NACC. Thanks to these relationships, GALCK was involved formally in the drafting of the National AIDS Strategic Plan for 2010-13. GALCK is also involved in the review of the National Voluntary Care and HIV Testing Form, so that information collected and counselling given during testing is reflective of the needs of the LGBTI community.