Olaide Kayode Timileyin | 3:02am
Queerness is still very illegal across many African countries, and this means that queer folks in these part of the world are constantly exposed to all forms of violations which includes targeted hate. During the First quarter of 2021, while the world is still busy battling with the covid-19 pandemic , arrest and violations of queer persons and organizations have been recorded in at least three West African countries, these includes, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.
Across the globe, Queer folks acknowledge every May the 17th as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, where we educate, advocate and communicate unapologetically against hate against queer bodies. Between February 2021 and May 2021, about four transwomen have faced from eviction and harassments to the most recent one of imprisonment as in the case of Shakiro and Patricia in Cameroon.
This year, we at Queercity Media and production say we recognize how much battles we as a community of queer folks in Africa had fought, we have survived and still fight, that words from our head can’t describe. From the stories we have chosen to tell, we constantly see how far we still have to go as a community in fighting against hate and violations of queer folks, most especially in the creation of healing spaces for ourselves as a community. Everyday queer person is faced with compulsory resistance against the society as our very existence is still criminalized, and this year we are choosing to say as a community we would be Resisting, Supporting and Healing together.
As LGBT persons in Sub Saharan Africa, we recognize we still have a long way to go with community supports, as often time we forget we are all we have as a community of criminalized person, and this year’s international day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia is indeed a clarion call that we all should answer to. While we all as individuals do our best in advocating for our existence, we should never ignore the fact that haven to fight for our existence is mentally and emotionally draining, and we need more healing spaces for ourselves as a community, paying attention to things like this promotes the quality of our activism and is prone to yield more effective results with the work with all do.
With Resistance, healing and supports we are moving a step at a time towards equality. Happy IDAHOBIT 2021 queer folks.
Timeless Queer Defiance and it's consequences in Nigeria With Chude – QueerCity
- Timeless Queer Defiance and it's consequences in Nigeria With Chude
- Nigeria's Road To LGBTI+ Decriminalization with Azeenarh Mohammed
- Who killed 19 years old John in Lagos ?
- Getting Justice for Cameroonian Transwomen Shakira and Patricia amidst death threats with Hamlet.
- HIV stigmatization amongst Nigerian Gay men with Raldie Young
QueerCity Media 