LGBT+ activist - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Dating app abductions raise fears for LGBT+ safety in South Africa

THABSIE Mabezane, a transgender woman and LGBT+ activist in South Africa was aware of personal safety when she met a man on the dating app Tinder earlier this year. She told him that she preferred to meet up in a public space instead of at his home. But as she waited at their meeting point in Johannesburg an unregistered car pulled up and a man with a gun got out and coerced her into the vehicle. Mabezane said she was taken to an abandoned building where her kidnappers demanded she call friends and ask them to send money, she told…

Feb

2022

By The African Mirror

One woman’s fight against criminalisation of LGBT community

LGBTQIA+

FRANCIS KOKOROKO IN a dimly-lit room with racks of women's clothing, Ghanaian artist and LGBT+ activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi flipped through photo self-portraits illustrating her transition to womanhood. Transitioning is not illegal in Ghana, but it will become so if a new law is passed, intended to tighten already strict anti-LGBT+ regulations which render same-sex relations illegal. Homophobia is pervasive in the West African country and trans people are generally considered to be gay. Fiatsi first exhibited the photographs, dubbed "Rituals of Becoming", in 2017. Supportive audiences flocked to see the show in Ghanaian galleries. Her work reflects how LGBT+…

Feb

2022

By The African Mirror

One woman fight against criminalisation of LGBT community

LGBT+

FRANCIS KOKOROKO INa dimly-lit room with racks of women's clothing, Ghanaian artist and LGBT+ activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi flipped through photo self-portraits illustrating her transition to womanhood. Transitioning is not illegal in Ghana, but it will become so if a new law is passed, intended to tighten already strict anti-LGBT+ regulations which render same-sex relations illegal. Homophobia is pervasive in the West African country and trans people are generally considered to be gay. Fiatsi first exhibited the photographs, dubbed "Rituals of Becoming", in 2017. Supportive audiences flocked to see the show in Ghanaian galleries. Her work reflects how LGBT+ people…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana court drops case against 21 LGBT+ activis

NEWS

A court in Ghana has dismissed a case against 21 Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) activists, ruling there was not enough evidence to prove they had gathered unlawfully, a prosecutor in the case said. "What this means is that they cannot be brought back to court on the same charges. So they have been freed," Chief Superintendent Akologo Yakubu Ayamga told Reuters. The 16 women and five men were arrested at a hotel in the southeastern city of Ho in May. Police said they had gathered illegally to advocate LGBT+ activities with books and flyers with titles including, "Coming…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

First trans U.S. state senator wants to make a difference, not history

LGBT+

MATTHEW LAVIETES LGBT+ activist Sarah McBride hopes her election as the United States' highest-ranking transgender lawmaker will send a "reassuring message" to young LGBT+ Americans that they are represented - and can aspire to public office too. "I know how much of a difference it would have made to me to see this news," said McBride, 30, a Democrat who was elected to serve as a senator in Delaware - also the home state of President-elect Joe Biden. "A healthy democracy includes a diverse government and we can't craft solutions for a diverse community if the full diversity is not…