Tag Archives: Queer

Queer refugees’ new hope for dignity in Kenya

Illustration combines the Kenyan flag and strands of rainbow colors. (Illustration by Rex Opara courtesy of Minority Africa)

Kenya’s ambitious new integration plan arouses hopes and worries Illustration combines the Kenyan flag and strands of rainbow colors. (Illustration by Rex Opara courtesy of Minority Africa) As Kenya launches an ambitious effort to turn refugee camps into open villages, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, long targeted by violence, wonder whether the promise of safety, mobility, and legal status will finally reach …

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Musician Jann Halexander reflects on being queer in Gabon

Jann Halexander

Returning after 23 years, Jann Halexander considers what’s possible in Gabon Jann Halexander Gabonese-French singer, actor and director Jann Halexander wrote the following essay on his return to Gabon after a 23-year absence from his homeland. While he was away, Gabon passed a law against homosexual activity in 2019, then repealed it in 2020. Being Homosexual in Gabon Émèno ka …

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Queer Cameroonians speak out about desire to become parents

Cameroon-LGBTI-and-children-report

New Cameroonian study documents social, legal, and financial obstacles to queer parenthood   At a meeting last month, Femmes Debout CRD presents its report on the desire of LGBTI Cameroonians to be parents. By Steeves Winner In Cameroon, having a child is perceived as a social obligation, a condition of acceptance and respectability. But for queer people, this universal desire …

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Azerbaijan police detain over 100 in queer nightclub raid

Graphic from the Azerbaijan LGBTQ organization Qiy Vaar states, "Get Out of Our Lives"

Patrons were subjected to humiliation, violence, and degrading treatment Graphic from the Azerbaijan LGBTQ organization Qiy Vaar states, “Get Out of Our Lives.” Azerbaijan police raided an LGBTQ-friendly nightclub on Dec 27, detaining more than 100 patrons who reported physical violence, humiliation, and demands for bribes. Detainees allege hair cutting, broken teeth, and sexual violence, with one stating that police …

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Queer Lagosians made alté cool. Now they’re being pushed out.

Group Therapy nightclub scene in Lagos, Nigeria (Photo courtesy of Instagram)

Queer spaces have always existed in Nigeria, but only on the margins Black queer figures dancing in an underground rave. (Illustration by Rex Opara courtesy of Minority Africa) Queer communities helped shape Lagos’s underground party scene. Now, as alté culture moves into the mainstream, the people who built it are being pushed to the margins – again.   In a …

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