Overcoming my Pride
27 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Pride Tags: London Gay Pride
I have experienced a few REALLY exciting things in my life – my first ride in a limousine; my first step on the soil of another continent, my first foot-popping kiss; my first job…the list goes on. But I’m yet to figure out how excited I was to experience a gay pride, for the first time – the 2011 London Gay Pride!
Time went by really fast on this day, and I didn’t get the chance to wear the drag costume I’d put together for this great event in my life. But I had on my halo and fairy god-mother wand that I had bought at the £1 shop earlier on my way to meet my friend, who assured me I looked heavenly! More
Just because I’m not like you, does not make me less human!
26 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Pride Tags: Amsterdam Gay Pride, Gay Africa
I can distinctly remember the first time I saw a TV news article on Gay rights. The year was 1988 and it was a short report on Sweden’s recognition of same-sex unions aired on ‘Voice of Kenya’ (now The Kenya broadcasting Corporation). I must have been 12 or so. What I realised then and was struck by the most were the images of the Swedish LGBT community, openly and proudly professing their orientation. More so, the sight of drag queens in full regalia was especially a revelation to me. I observed the contempt expressed by the News anchor, which brought home the reality of being gay in an African country. I swore there and then that I would address the prejudice associated with Homosexuality.
10 years later (1997), I started ISHTAR a Community Based Organization Working with Men Who Have Sex with Other Men (MSM) on HIV, STIs and Reproductive Health Rights. Obviously, I could not openly address Gay rights, so I disguised our group as a theatre troupe. Our crowning glory came when we performed CLEOPATRA, Kenya’s first full drag act! The Egyptian ambassador was even present on opening night!
I moved to the Netherlands in 2001 and quickly realized that despite the legal freedom and an amazingly tolerant attitude towards homosexuals, there was a serious issue of homophobia and intolerance within the African migrant community. There also did not seem to be any counter measures against this. It took a while, but in 2008, Stichting African Gay Youth Foundation was born. More
Marching with Pride, no time for Shame
22 Jul 2011 2 Comments
In July 1995, I went to my first Pride event. At the time, I had gone under the guise that some friends were attending and the festival was also taking place locally. On that occasion I had felt like a kid looking through the window of a sweet shop – longing for the day when I would have the courage to stand in the store and partake in the delights that were on full display.
In between Pride ’95 and Pride ’96, a lot had happened in terms of me coming home to myself. During that period I had had my first liaison with a man, my first heartbreak and had come out at work and to a few close friends. As Pride ’96 approached, I was determined to be more than the kid looking through the glass of the sweet shop. This time I wanted to be part of the celebrations. At the time Pride represented to me an opportunity to show the world that I was proud to be who I am and there was no shame attached to being gay. In terms of my personality, I can be an ‘all or nothing’ person, and that year was no exception. I decided that rather than simply being one of the people watching the parade take place, I would be a steward on the march and at the festival in Clapham Common. More
Is Pride something to be Proud of?
19 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Pride Tags: Gay, London Pride, Queer, Spirituality
Recently I was at London Pride, celebrating 25 years since my first Pride event. I love to be out on the streets of central London with thousands of out and proud queers and sensing how the good vibration we bring spreads through us and into the atmosphere of the Capital’s streets.
I was thrilled when a few years ago the park parties stopped (because they had become so commercial and bland) and we focussed our celebration in the centre of the city, particularly because we took over Trafalgar Square, the centre of the nation, and raised our rainbow flags high, giving out powerful social and political messages. More
Proud to be who I am!
11 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Pride Tags: Gay, Kenya, Pride
If you could live a thousand years as yourself, never having to worry about looking over your shoulder, hiding or being found out, what would that be like for you? If you lived a thousand years always looking over your shoulder, doubting and worrying about what you say, how you say it, trying to remember what you said last time or the next, what would that be like for you?
By the time I finished university in 1997 I was certain of 2 things; that I was definitely coming back home to Kenya to live and that I was gay. I actually knew I was gay much earlier and had redesigned my life to fit into a life I knew for certain would be hard, difficult and secretive. But something was to change when I got home, and I never would have thought home, Kenya, would be where I would make my peace, be myself as a gay man. I always thought it would be in the ‘west’ where I would be comfortable and ‘at home’ and proud of myself. More
OutTales around the Fire 