This is our “Excerpts from a Dairy” series. We publish excerpts of thoughts and reflections from emails, dairies and journals of people from the queer community. These excerpts could be complete entries or uncompleted and unstructured excerpts that show our personal thoughts and reflections about our lived experience.
Sometimes I wonder if my family knows. That perhaps, although they lack the language, that they know about me. My queer identity has affected my relationship with my family a little bit. Since I cannot be free, I spend a very limited amount of time with them.
Even more, I did not spend much time with my father. A few months after his death, I wrote a note in my diary.
“My dear father
… I’m sorry our relationship lacked a family or a father-daughter love. I don’t judge you! Maybe you had your own inner struggle. You do not know much about me, I am queer. I learned about my querness at a young age. Although I cannot openly express my feelings for another woman, I am living as my authentic self. How would you have felt? I do not want to think that you would have hated me if you knew me. I like to think that it would not have bothered you.
"Queer family" is an alternative space created by a group of queer Ethiopian women. It is designed to be a space for a diverse group of Ethiopian queer women whose sexual and gender identifications vary. It includes cis and trans women who may be lesbian, bisexual or asexual. This is a space where the experiences of queer people takes center stage. We hope to include personal experiences from our daily lives as queer people, various stories, interviews, original artwork and poetry. We hope it will also serve as a place where Ethiopians in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the diaspora come as themselves to explore and create an online community.
If you would like to send us something, please send us an email via etqueerfamily@gmail.com
«ኩዊር ኢትዮጵያ» የተለያዩ ፆታዊና ወሲባዊ ዝንባሌ ላላቸው ኢትዮጵያዊ ኩዊር ሴቶች እንዲሆን ታስቦ በኩዊር ሴቶች የተመሠረተ አማራጭ ምኅዳር ነው። ይኽውም ሌዝቢያን፣ ባይሴክሽዋል ወይም ኤሴክሽዋል የሆኑ ሴቶችንንና ትራንስ ሴቶችን ያካትታል። ይህ ምኅዳር የኩዊር ማኅበረሰብ ታሪክ እና የሕይወት ልምድ ትልቅ ሥፍራ የሚይዝበት ነው። እንደ’ኩዊር ማኅበረሰብ የዕለት ተዕለት ሕይወታችንን ገጠመኞች፤ የተለያዩ ሰዎችን የግል ታሪኮች፤ ቃለ-
መጠይቆች እንዲሁም ሥነ-ጥበባትን እንደምናካትት ተስፋ እናደርጋለን። ከነዚህ በተጨማሪም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ እና በዳያስፖራ ለሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ቤተሰቦች ራሳቸውን ሆነው
የሚመጡበት የበይነ-መረብ ማኅበረሰብ መድረክ ሆኖ እንዲያገለግል ማስቻል ፍላጎታችን ብቻ ሣይሆን ጥረታችንም ጭምር ነው።
etqueerfamily@gmail.com
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