Accelerating acceptance: Chris Makena Njeri on the support African queer communities need right now
Why It Matters
Out of 54 countries in Africa, only 22 have legalized homosexuality, and only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage. While the task of overturning these laws is vital, queer folks more immediately need a support network and safe spaces.
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In 2019, Chris Makena Njeri was outed as gay. Pictures of their vandalized car with hateful comments went viral on Twitter, and their inbox was flooded with hate mail. Njeri says this topic continued to be a social media trend in Kenya for over a week. At the time, they worked as a journalist for the BBC, and even the validity of their work was being questioned because of their sexuality. โThe fact that I was outed, when I was not ready to come out, was something that really, really disturbed me,โ says Njeri.ย
During the process of recovering from this
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