‘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.

Kenny Badmus and South Africa’s Zanele Muholi Bring The Spotlight on Queer Africa

Established to combat the growing cloud of American isolationism after 9/11, the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature aims to further the organization’s dedication to the freedom of expression through literature and art. This year, the festival has been organized under the chairmanship of Colm Tóibín, and it is the first time in its 11-year history that the content will be focused on a single region of the world. Co-curated by Festival Director László Jakab Orsós and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the program will explore African literature and art — or at least, a fraction of what the vast and diverse continent has to offer.

This year also sees the inclusion of a workshop titled “Queer Futures,” the first time that queer writing will be explored on its own. The event reveals cutting-edge discussion of the continent’s LGBT movements, and participants include Zanele Muholi, a South African visual artist, with a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum; Binyavanga Wainaina, a Kenyan author and journalist; Shireen Hassim, a professor of political studies in Johannesburg, South Africa; and Kehinde Bademosi aka Kenny Badmus, Nigerian entrepreneur and writer.

Happy Easter, KDians

Amen to this!

Now That Muhammadu Buhari Has Won The Presidency…

Dare we hope that the next four years will constitute a Better Tomorrow for Nigerian LGBT?

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…”

NOW, A THOUGHT FOR KENNY BADMUS’ WIFE

Written by Akin Akintayo, and originally published on akinblog.nl

On the one hand, praise.

A couple of days ago, I celebrated the coming out of Kenny Badmus on both the matter of his sexuality and HIV-status with the hope that his decision will give strength and encouragement to the many who suffer under the societal strictures of conformity and despair.

However, it was impossible for the matter to just end there, because there was one key guiding principle that I had to revisit after a bit of reflection and discussion, the one of people who are hurt by those actions we take when we are faced with other difficult options we refuse to choose.

Now, Kenny Badmus said he learnt this from his father: “Die for your own truth, even if it’s unpopular, but don’t harm others with it.” Indeed, I believe there is a very strong influence of this in his decision to accept who he is, but that lesson has come long after damage has been done.

On the other hand, however…

A Straight Woman’s Point Of View…

In a bid to show my solidarity for Kenny Badmus, I updated my BBM display picture with his profile, and updated some message I can’t now remember on my pm. So, of course, I had friends who came trolling with questions and remarks and opinions. One of them was a female friend of mine; and below is a screengrab of part of what we chatted about.

This sort of amused me. I mean, really, gay men don’t deserve to have good looking fellow men to shag?

On my other, more mainstream blog, where I also updated Kenny’s coming out, another straight female said as part of her comment: ‘…I have a gay friend, finest guy I know. For some reason they now seem to be blessed with good looks…’

AH! We don suffer! So, before we woh-woh, abi? Chai! Diaris God o.

Kenny Badmus Concludes…

It’s been five days since Kenny Badmus ‘broke the internet’ with his coming out post on Facebook. And in that time, there have been both love and hate reactions from different people with access to the internet. The brand expert has acknowledged them all and had something to say to all that on Facebook. Read below:

‘In conclusion, having reviewed all emails, comments, hates and goodwill in the last couple of days, I’m happy to say this is not about us. It’s about the ones who don’t have the platforms to speak. Or the one whose voices have been muffled by the fear of being rejected. The culture of shaming and silence has harmed us as a people, especially in Africa.

Kenny Badmus Comes Out

This is a mistake a lot of us make. We all want to change people to conform to our preferences. We find it easier to play god in the lives of people we did not make. – Kenny Badmus.

Such is the damage the expectations of society wreaks in the lives of men like brand expert, Kenny Badmus, pushing them to live lives that they did not bargain for.

You must all have already read or heard about Kenny Badmus’ coming out in a post on Facebook.

Read his post below:

When I first told my ex-wife that I was gay, we were far from being married. I wanted her to find other men honorably, who had a thing for women. I never did. I ‘swear down.’ I was only obeying the popular demand of traditions. Now, this was my terrible mistake. No one should live their life based on dogmas and other people’s expectations. As far as I could remember, even though I was always dating girls, I had always preferred being with a man. I had fought it with every fiber of spirituality in me as a Pentecostal preacher boy (find details and journeys in my book ‘THE EXODUS.’) The more I fought my sexual preference for men, the more I became more miserable. Unfortunately, as erroneously believed, sex wasn’t the problem. I had been having sex with women as far back as a twelve-year-old. Sexuality is whom we are emotionally present with, not whom we are sleeping with. And oh boy, she really tried to make me a heterosexual. But I’m still not, sadly.

‘I died several times, but I didn’t die.’ Brand Expert, Kenny Badmus, shares his story of living with HIV in the last 15 years

To mark World AIDS Day which was yesterday, December 1st, Nigerian brand expert and founder of Orange Academy, Kenny Badmus, took to his Facebook page to share his inspiring story of living successfully with HIV for the last 15 years.

Read his story below…

‘Today, Monday December 1st, is World AIDS day, and I’m celebrating my resolve to live with this damn virus all these many years without letting it define who I am. Every journey I take, every picture of me you see, and every new challenge I take on are all huge reminders that I must never stop living my best life. So, I decided to share my journey with you today. Honestly, I don’t know what exactly you are dealing with but I’m writing you this to hold tight to your dream. Here’s a quick sketch of my journey from the first day I tested positive, 15 years ago. My upcoming book tells the full story.