“It would be good to broaden the LBQ community. I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, but I’ve lived in a regional state. When I was there, there were a lot of women like us, a lot of lesbians, but they didn’t try to make queer friends or meet people. They live their lives by associating queerness with being cursed. It’s when you come to Addis and meet more women like you that you realize that this is real life. The men seem to be doing well, but the women need to catch up. We can use our different skills and do something with them. To be honest, we may get insulted and stuff, but people already know; they’re already insulting us, so we might as well get the job done through the insults. Us LBQ women don’t have a space for ourselves. My gay male friends, because they have their own spaces, are able to do things. I go into their spaces and work on my art. No one says anything to me. In fact, they appreciate and encourage me. I believe there are a lot of women with diverse talents, and it would be great if you could create a community that can work together. I know I’m willing!”
Thoughts on creating community
Published by Queer Ethiopia
"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 View all posts by Queer Ethiopia