According to a survey that has just been released, 38 percent of young adults in sub-Saharan Africa said they want their governments to do more for LGBTQ+ rights.
The African Youth Survey, conducted by the international research firm PSB Insights, and supported by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation – an environmental and humanitarian nonprofit based in South Africa – indicated that a record number of African youth support LGBTQ+ equality.
Ethiopia was one of the 15 African countries included in the survey in which 4,507 youth between the ages of 18 and 24 across Africa were interviewed. Currently, at least 32 African countries criminalize being a gender or a sexual minority and the punishment varies from death by stoning to imprisonment.
Given the current marginalization and criminalization of queer people, the results of the survey provide that rare ray of hope to us African LGBTQ+ people.
Perhaps, we can indeed all dream of a better tomorrow where we can freely live our lives in our home countries without fear.
"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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