Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown visited Kenya in the first episode of the series’ final season, and the episode’s broadcast Sunday night featured a gay athlete discussing the struggles of the LGBTQ community in Kenya.

Kevin Mwachiro was one of the people Bourdain visited in Nairobi. Mwachiro has been an LGBTQ activist in Kenya for many years. He is also a runner who recently competed in the Gay Games.

Mwachiro discussed a pending Kenyan court case that would legalize sex between people of the same gender, which would be a massive legal breakthrough for LGBTQ people in Africa.

“If we win this case i’m happy and scared at the same time,” Mwachiro explained. “Backlash, obviously will happen. There will be people who will be attacked.”

Yet, of course, Mwachiro’s colleagues and fellow activists at the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission have been working hard to win the case that would finally overturn decades of British law, imposed on the Kenyans, that criminalized homosexuality.

Mwachiro told Outsports he was happy with how the episode turned out.

“He let us tell a contemporary urban story of our community and our lives. Plus, how arts and culture are being used to create awareness around LGBTI stories and lives. We are rewriting our script in our various ways. It was respectable storytelling.”

Bourdain was joined by CNN host W. Kamau Bell on the Kenya trip.

The Kenya visit was the last fully completed episode Bourdain participated in before committing suicide. The rest of the season will feature Bourdain in snippets, including some narration.

You can find Kevin Mwachiro on Facebook, on Twitter @kevmwachiro, and on Instagram @kevmwachiro.

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