Bisi Alimi Expresses Hope For Nigeria After Drop In Support For Antigay Law

Gay rights activist Bisi Alimi has expressed optimism, after a poll found that support for Nigeria’s anti-gay law is slowly declining.

The poll, taken earlier last week, found that 87 percent of Nigerians support a law criminalizing same-sex relationships went down from 96 percent from a few years ago.

In an interview with GLAAD reporter Claire Pires, Alimi – the founder of the Bisi Alimi Foundation, and the first man to come out on Nigerian television – explains the traditional anti-gay attitude in Nigeria and his hopeful findings through social polling for the national LGBT tolerance rate.

‘I Dream Of A Generation…’ – Kenny Badmus

The following is a Facebook post updated by Kenny Badmus. It was so riveting, I simply had to share. Hopefully, there are people amongst us who share in this same dream. Check on it below.

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It’s 4.48 AM here in New York. I just came back home from a long night of clubbing and partying. Or let’s say club hopping. My body is sore from dancing, but I promised myself to write this indescribable experience I had on the train home. Ok, let me try and describe it. I will try.

Four lads got on the train from Times Square. They sat just beside me on the long bench near the door. They were loud but they used no cuss words or profanities. When they referred to each other, they used the word ‘nigger’ or ‘niggy’. They looked like they were in their early 20s. Matching sneakers and shirts. Baseball caps with inscriptions of major leagues and pop artistes. Their pants were below their waistlines. Across the seat from us was a beautiful young lady with a butterfly tattoo on her exposed thigh. She wore just enough dress to cover all the right places but her cleavage.

“Niggy! I ma lick this garl up from head to toe,” one of the lads in the baseball hats said, as he eyed me to get some form of approval.

The +++ Journals: Entry IV

“We are going on a road trip!”

Josh laughed. It felt good to hear his throaty chuckle after a long time. (For someone who I was constantly in communication with, a few days without speaking or chatting with him always seemed like an eternity)

“Road trip ke? Where we dey go?” Josh replied with a yawn.

“Egbeda,” I deadpanned.

“Mumu!” he burst out with another laugh. “You have started throwing shade again ba, this early morning.”

“Haba! I am not throwing darkness of any sorts, oga. But really, anything beyond the Third Mainland Bridge is a road trip and I will not apologize for it!” I retorted.

“For your mind, you sef, you are forming Island Big Gehz, ba? You don’t even live in Old Ikoyi, Parkview or Phase 1 o! Your house and Epe, no difference. Dey there dey deceive yourself.”

I let out a hearty guffaw. It indeed felt good, talking to Josh.

The Day I Find Out My Son Is Gay

FOREWORD: This poem was adapted by Teflondon from an originally written poem by Okina Idek, titled ‘If My Son Were To Be Gay’, and originally published on thelmathinks.com.

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The day I find out my son is gay

I will get on my knees and pray

Ask God to give him strength

For on this earth, Gay equals pain

I will call on him, I will say:

Son, I know it is who you are

But in society, we all play parts

No one will understand you being gay

They will fight you and break you

Hover and dim the brightness that is your light

They will discriminate against and incriminate you

They will judge and barricade you from happiness

They will not rest, son. No, they won’t.

But strive not to give up who you are

From a Homosexual to the Forerunner of CHANGE

We are born on the back of angels with broken wings and hearts that match perfectly

Our spirits have been rocked to sleep by the arms of an oppressive system

That steals pieces of our sexuality every time we blink our eyes

We are walking narcoleptics

We are sleepwalkers

Waiting to be touched

Waiting to be woken up

Waiting for somebody to care

Waiting to care about ourselves

And the people with physical features that closely resemble our own.

STICKS AND STONES, BLOOD AND BONES

FOREWORD: Previously on Dubem’s HIV story, click HERE to read.

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‘One day, when the glory comes

It will be ours, it will be ours

Oh, one day, when the war is won

We will be sure, we will be sure

Oh glory!’

I watched the 2015 Hollywood award shows before seeing the movie, Selma, and so, I got to watch John Legend and Common’s performance of the movie soundtrack, Glory, before grasping the power of the Black Civil Rights Movement depicted in the film.

But this piece isn’t about all that. It’s about the lesson derived from a sense of hope and a strength of will.

I am Dubem, and I have being living with an awareness of my HIV Positive Status for three years.

Thresholds

My Name is Andrevn /an:dr£vin/. I like to think I am of mixed roots – Greek/Scottish born (lol). Today is my twenty-first birthday. And this is not a story.

I had my first frottage at age three, and munched on my first sausage (elder brother the second) at age five (a conscious act, mind you).

Growing up was hellish; I had to fight the demons that plagued my very existence. Being a pastor’s child, you’d think that everything about my sanctity had been taken care of. But no! It could not be taken care of by the Holier-than-thou persons that were around me.

It turned out to be the perfect irony that Mother Nature could ever conjure – me, as who I am, and an offspring of a Christian home. An existence that came with beautiful lessons to be learned, bearing in mind how my pain and hardship has helped shape my perspectives and curbed my excesses.

BEFORE I DIE: 4 (There’s A Reason For Everything)

“Undetectable viral load…”

It is all I can think about. I can’t get the words out of my head. Although the e-book has told me what undetectable viral load is, I am not quite satisfied. I want to know all I can about it. It’s like finally getting admission after writing jamb eight times. It’s like winning the visa lottery. You know that feeling you get when you come home and your newly-wedded wife tells you she’s pregnant? Aha! That’s it.

Wait, my readership are gay men (and women). So, of course, most of you don’t now or intend to know that feeling. lol

Anyway, I’m not trying to quantify life or anything of that sort. I just want you to feel what I felt, or at least have an idea. The situations I just mentioned all have one thing in common. Can you guess? You probably can’t, because you’re not standing where I am standing. Well, I will help you. They all have this in common. They all either give you the chance of having a better life or moulding one. In general, you get to live a better, happy life.

BEFORE I DIE: 3 (Lean On Me)

I am walking through the corridor and I notice something. Everyone is staring at me, and laughing. I keep my head down and walk on straight. I don’t want to make any eye contact with anyone. The laughs are getting louder. They are even pointing at me now.

Then a voice calls me from behind. I turn and gape. It is Trey Songz.

Trey: Hey Bobby.

He sounds as naughty as a busty blonde in skimpy nurse uniform.

I don’t make a sound. I am still shocked. I am just staring at him with my jaw slackened. He winks at me. He starts taking his shirt off, smiling the whole time. Then he then goes for his belt, he takes it out and holds it like a dominatrix’s whip. He lashes at the air with it twice. TAH! TAH!! And suddenly his pants fall off. He has on black briefs; the left and right sides are made with a net-like material, and the front side covering his big bulge is made of a nylon material. I don’t know where the music is suddenly coming from, but it is nasty.

“My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard… Damn right! It’s better than yours…”

MY RISING

Like the Morning Sun

Bright and early

Wasting no time, waiting no more

I rise

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Like a Phoenix

Avian legend steeped in magic

Rebirth brand new

I rise