Edition #37
This week, we start in Uganda, where the National Bureau of NGOs regulating LGBTQ and human rights groups has been dissolved. Next, in Nigeria, Muslim women talk about facing discrimination in the workplace because of their hijabs. Finally, we stop in Cameroon, where the gender-based violence from the ongoing armed conflict is taking a mental toll on victims.
But first, in Nigeria, Minority Africa takes you inside an online counseling service for queer Nigerians. Read the excerpt here đđ˝:
âThey made me feel like I matteredâ: Inside an online counselling service for LGBTQ+ Nigerians
TW: This story contains references to suicide.Â
As a 12-year-old altar boy in his local Catholic parish in Abuja, Nigeria, Chiboy Sidney recognised the âdiscomfortâ his effeminate nature caused others.
One Sunday, during mass, a visiting seminarian citing 1 Corinthians 6:9, a verse on sexual immorality and homosexuality, prohibited Sidney from serving mass and accused him of trying to seduce the priests. Despite this, Sidney says his experiences in Abuja, where he grew up, were generally more accepting, but things took a harsh turn when he gained admission to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). The university proved to be a hostile environment, where people openly disapproved of Sidneyâs effeminate nature. Public slander and derogatory comments became a regular occurrence.
âIn Abuja, I could go out without any incident of hostility, but in the east, it was something I was always getting,â Sidney, now 26 years old, shares.
Not only did Sidney face challenges from fellow students, but he also encountered lecturers who proposed sex for grades and urged him to âman up,â with a lecturer attempting to sexually assault him.
It was around this time that his gay best friend, Eugene, attempted suicide due to the rejection and conversion therapy he endured from his family. For Sidney who is also queer, this traumatic event ignited his passion for advocacy.
Continue reading here
Stories to read
Washington Blade
Uganda tightens grip on LGBTQ rights groups
BBC
Satellite images and doctor testimony reveal Tigray hunger crisis
From our site
âThere was never a moment we were not runningâ: Women are paying the ultimate price in Cameroonâs armed conflict
TW: This story contains references to sexual violence.
It was a deceptively sunny Monday in Cameroonâs embattled northwest region. The streets lay eerily silentâshops shuttered, taxis absent. It was no ordinary day off but a âghost townâ enforced by Anglophone separatists in their war against the Francophone-dominated government. Into this tense calm stepped Claudia, 21, on a simple mission to buy sanitary pads. Little did she know that her mundane errand would spiral into a horrific ordeal and lifelong psychosocial battles.
âSuddenly, there were gunshots, and I was going back to my house. I bumped into them, and they asked me what I was doing outside,â Claudia recalls. âThe sanitary pad was visible, and they could all see thatâs what took me out.â
The armed men, unconvinced, blindfolded Claudia and whisked her away on a motorbike. Thus began a harrowing five-hour journey from Bamenda town into an unknown forest.
âOne of the boys started making sexual advances at me,â Claudia recounts. â When I resisted, he used a cutlass on my head and pushed me to the floor.â
This was followed by torture and gang rape at the hands of her abductors.
âI tried resisting with my hands, then the other boy came and stood on my hands such that I could not resist,â Claudia says in tears. âHe forced his way into me, and when he was done, he stood on my hands while the other boy also forced his way in.â For two days, Claudia was more or less a sex toy in the hands of her abductors. âI was feeling so much pain.ââ
This experience has traumatised her to date.
The racist politicization of Black hair in African schoolsHijabi Discrimination In Nigeria Makes Navigating The Workplace Difficult for Muslim Women
âDo you always wear that?â
âThat thing on your head is not professional.â
âYour hair must smell so much under all of that.â
âDo you think that makes you better than everyone else?â
âYou can remove it while you are at the office, your father/husband wonât know.â
Every Muslim woman who wears a hijab, headscarf, or any form of clothing that covers her hair has at some point or the other had to deal with passive-aggressive comments about their headwear. Often, the comments veer into being incredibly cruel and unsavoury. Workplaces are meant to be free from personal biases and prejudice, but many Muslim women have been stripped of access to jobs or economic opportunities based on their visible dedication to their faith.
The image of a Muslim woman, especially a woman of colour in a hijab, sometimes referred to as âhijabisâ is viewed through the lens of oppression. Harmful stereotypes and lack of proper representation in many media strongly influence the oppression of hijabis.
Professional hijabi Muslim women are wrongfully perceived as subservient and devoid of full agency over their life and career. In Nigeria, where women are already a minority, a Muslim woman who devoutly wears her hijab faces double scrutiny and significant discrimination. Hijabis in professional spaces have confessed to the feeling of either being patronized, heavily scrutinized or a sense of erasure
Around the world
The New Humanitarian
In Sudan, host families take the strain of the worldâs largest displacement crisis
âWe shared everything, and we became like one family.â
With only two bedrooms, a hallway, and a single bathroom, 47-year-old Kararâs humble home in the town of Gedaref, in southeastern Sudan, can be crowded at the best of times.
Yet limited space hasnât stopped Karar from opening his door to 40 people across six families, all driven from their homes by the still-expanding war that has gutted Sudanâs cities and produced the worldâs largest displacement and hunger crises.
âWe feel that any person in Sudan can go through this humiliation, so solidarity is our duty in order to relieve each other,â Karar told The New Humanitarian, asking for only his first name to be used. âI continue to host, and I cannot abandon them.â
Over 10 million Sudanese, roughly 20% of the population, have been uprooted since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army began fighting in April 2023. Almost eight million have been internally displaced and the rest have fled abroad.
Washington Blade
Indian Supreme Court continues to review marriage equality ruling
On July 10, as Indiaâs Supreme Court was engrossed in a pivotal review petition concerning marriage equality, an unexpected twist unfolded.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the courtâs most senior judge, made the surprising decision to recuse himself from considering the pleas. This unforeseen development added a dramatic layer to a historic and closely watched judicial review.
The pleas seek a review of the Supreme Courtâs ruling from last year that declined to legally recognize same-sex marriage. Reports indicate Khanna cited personal reasons for his recusal, adding a layer of intrigue to the already high-stakes proceeding.
In the wake of Khannaâs unexpected recusal, the Supreme Court is set to undergo a significant shift.
According to the courtâs procedural rules, Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud will reconstitute a new 5-judge constitution bench. This pivotal move marks a crucial step in the ongoing legal saga, ensuring the review of the marriage equality case continues with a fresh panel at the helm.
DW
From fear to freedom: LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety in Germany
Faced with rape threats, forced conversion therapy, and the necessity to flee their homeland, four queer individuals share their experiences with DW.
“The Russian police threatened to have me raped in prison,” recounts 21-year-old Yusif Muradov. He had to flee Russia after authorities started cracking down on him for being openly queer.
As of 2024, 64 countries in the world criminalize homosexuality. In at least 10 countries like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Iran, consensual same-sex acts can even lead to the death penalty.
In several other countries, like Russia and India, same-sex relations are legally permitted, nevertheless LGBTQ+ people are still persecuted â leading to a de-facto illegality.
Four openly queer people spoke to DW about why they had to leave their country and come to Germany to live their lives freely, out of the closet.
Stories weâve enjoyed reading
BBC
âI wanted my clitoris backâ â FGM survivor opts for reconstructive surgery
Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of the practices involved in female genital mutilation
Shamsa Sharawe has become infamous within the Somali community across the world for speaking out against female genital mutilation (FGM) . In a video to illustrate what happened to her vulva when she was aged six she cut off the petals of a rose with a razor blade and then stitched up what was left of the flower.
The TikTok post went viral – with nearly 12 million views since it was shared 16 months ago.
No Somali, even in the diaspora, talks openly about FGM – never mind the problems that can come with it like painful periods, the difficulty of urinating, the agony of having sex and the dangers and trauma of giving birth when oneâs vulva (including the lips and clitoris) have been cut off and the vaginal opening has been narrowed to a tiny hole.
This form of FGM – known as infibulation or âtype threeâ – is what happens to most girls in Somalia as it is a commonly held belief that the cutting off their outer genitalia will guarantee their virginity.
Women who do not undergo FGM are regarded by many in Somali society as having loose morals or a high sex drive, which risks ruining a familyâs reputation.
Yet the 31-year-old TikToker, who came to live in the UK in 2001 when her family fled Somalia’s civil war, is not afraid to take on such taboos with humorous, engaging and sometimes heart-breaking honesty.