None On Record - Stories from queer Africa
August 3, 2010 4:22 PM Subscribe
None On Record - Stories of Queer Africa. After the brutal 2004 murder of FannyAnn Eddy, founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, native South African Selly Thiam decided to start recording the stories of African GLBTs both on the continent and in the diaspora. The result is a growing oral document of "the hopes, struggles, challenges and joy of being a QLGBT African - in their own voices".
Via Chicago Public Radio's Worldview, which has an interview with Thiam here.
Via Chicago Public Radio's Worldview, which has an interview with Thiam here.
The first time I went to Kenya happened to coincide with the original ruling in California that gay marriage was legal. Sitting next to a my Kenyan professor's brother watching the news, he turned to me and said, "What do you think of this foolishness?" The conversation went downhill from there and culminated in him telling me he'd kill his daughter if she came out. This, coupled with the minister of gender and disability telling us there WERE no gay people in Kenya, and a teacher mocking transpeople made for a depressing atmosphere.
A heavily Christian and Muslim country is not the most welcoming place for gays - but I think there's hope!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:04 PM on August 3, 2010
A heavily Christian and Muslim country is not the most welcoming place for gays - but I think there's hope!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:04 PM on August 3, 2010
This is why we can't allow any Christian churches to be built in America.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:08 PM on August 3, 2010
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:08 PM on August 3, 2010
This is why we can't allow any Christian churches to be built in America.
I don't know much about it but aren't evangelical christians from America a big push behind the financial support for homophobic activity in some places in Africa?
posted by shinybaum at 5:12 PM on August 3, 2010
I don't know much about it but aren't evangelical christians from America a big push behind the financial support for homophobic activity in some places in Africa?
posted by shinybaum at 5:12 PM on August 3, 2010
aren't evangelical christians from America a big push behind the financial support for homophobic activity in some places in Africa?
Well, Scott Lively has been working hard to get homosexuals to face harsh legal penalties in Uganda. But he's a fukin' loon. The Daily Show recently took him down about 10 notches (for his claims that gays are more vicious than heterosexuals and were the driving force behind the Third Reich), and I was happy to see it.
posted by hippybear at 6:09 PM on August 3, 2010
Well, Scott Lively has been working hard to get homosexuals to face harsh legal penalties in Uganda. But he's a fukin' loon. The Daily Show recently took him down about 10 notches (for his claims that gays are more vicious than heterosexuals and were the driving force behind the Third Reich), and I was happy to see it.
posted by hippybear at 6:09 PM on August 3, 2010
This is why we can't allow any Christian churches to be built in America.
That's the kind of crappy one-liner you'd be all over like a fly on shit if it came from the other side. I know (or at least I think) you are trying to be humorous, but how about more funny and less crappy?
I think that this is a fantastic project; it is so vitally important to capture these interviews (and hopefully archive them along with copies of whatever written materials exist -- flyers for shows and art exhibits, poetry, posters, memoirs, etc) because once those memories are gone, they are gone forever.
posted by Forktine at 6:14 PM on August 3, 2010
That's the kind of crappy one-liner you'd be all over like a fly on shit if it came from the other side. I know (or at least I think) you are trying to be humorous, but how about more funny and less crappy?
I think that this is a fantastic project; it is so vitally important to capture these interviews (and hopefully archive them along with copies of whatever written materials exist -- flyers for shows and art exhibits, poetry, posters, memoirs, etc) because once those memories are gone, they are gone forever.
posted by Forktine at 6:14 PM on August 3, 2010
I saw the Scott Lively thing but didn't realise he was connected to Uganda. I googled and found Rick Warren and sexual 'reorientation' types Don Schmierer and Caleb Lee Brundidge, so it doesn't look like un-discredited evanglicals at all.
An NYTimes article pointed to this though, which is brilliant and talks about the history of evangelicals in Africa. I didn't mean to derail into religion though, this whole project is very necessary on it's own merits.
posted by shinybaum at 6:26 PM on August 3, 2010
An NYTimes article pointed to this though, which is brilliant and talks about the history of evangelicals in Africa. I didn't mean to derail into religion though, this whole project is very necessary on it's own merits.
posted by shinybaum at 6:26 PM on August 3, 2010
I somehow missed this post yesterday. I'll get clicking - thanks!
posted by rtha at 7:19 AM on August 4, 2010
posted by rtha at 7:19 AM on August 4, 2010
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Slightly OT but related to the refugee interviews, I'm stunned every time the UK tries to deport an asylum seeker on the grounds that the situation isn't so bad because they can just find another area to live, and kind of amazed that the new govt. might be the ones to put a stop to unjust GLBT deportations.
posted by shinybaum at 4:52 PM on August 3, 2010