Niger Is Heading Backwards When It Comes to LGBTQ+ Rights
Criminalising us doesn't make us go away
Pride month has ended for another year. And just as the month falls away, we’re being reminded why exactly it remains so important for so many of us in this day and age.
In recent years, several countries in Africa have written new legislation increasing penalties for LGBTQ+ identities. They range from prison time to the death penalty for repeat offenses.
Countries that have set this in motion include Ghana, Uganda, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso. The latest of these is Niger.
Since criminalising same-sex relationships in February for the first time in their history, Niger has started a witch-hunt for LGBTQ+ people and has now restricted access to HIV treatment and prevention for gay men.
This includes refusing to supply testing services, condoms and PrEP.
Dozens of people have been arrested and detained for trial on the accusation of being gay.
This is hatred, pure and simple. Stripping our rights away doesn’t end LGBTQ+ identities. We don’t stop existing because of the law. All you do is drive us into the closet, make us live in fear, and give people license to hurt us.
We are born the way we are. It isn’t a choice.
This is why Pride is still necessary — I’d argue that it’s more necessary now than ever.
Look at what’s happening in Africa. In Russia. In the United States.
We still need to fight for our lives and our loves as fiercely as our elders did in the Stonewall Riots, all those years ago. We will not lay down and die like they want us to.
We’ll make the ol’ geezers proud. That’s why we call it Pride.
And Pride will keep being a thing until we don’t need it anymore.
Solidarity wins.
I have several members of my family on the spectrum and I fear for them.