I'm A Human Being,A Nigerian Muslim And A Gay- Azeenarh Mohammed Makes History As The First Nigerian To Openly Declare Her Gay Status

Azeenarh Mohammed, One of the brains behind the success of   Occupy Nigeria Protest came out this afternoon to openly declare her sexuality. According To Azeenarh, she is a Lesbian, proud of it and does not owe any body explanation who she have sex with 

Well,read her below,form your own conclusion and drop your comments below

As a gay, Muslim, Nigerian living and working in Nigeria, coming out to anyone other than my family and closest friends was never on my to-do list. I was content to live my life in relative silence while others passed judgement on ‘the gays’ but allowing us to live in relative peace. Then came January 2014 and I realized coming out was no longer a choice, but a necessity.

I started by changing my twitter handle and substituting the word happy for gay. I immediately felt empowered. Relieved of a burden. Visible. Alive.

I got questions from a lot of people and I said to them yes, I am gay.

Soon I realized that the more I came out to people, the easier it became and the more I wanted to come out to others. I walked up to my boss and told her ‘the he I have a crush on whom you want to meet, well its a she and not a he’. She smiled and told me to rock on. I came out to my largely homophobic football group — to mixed reactions. I came out to the highest ranking legal officer — surprisingly, he only wanted to discuss the unconstitutionality of the law. I came out to a senator of the republic who had voted in favor of the law and we had a vibrant 4 hour discussion. Even though he still maintains his support for the Same-sex Marriage Prohibition Act, he now has a different opinion about letting people live their lives. I will look at that glass as half full.

But I am no longer selective about who I share details of my life with. Whenever I introduce myself, I find a way to mention without prompting, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, that I am gay. I see a lot of surprise, a lot of disapproval, discomfort, disdain and occasionally disgust. Another recurrent theme is curiosity. They wonder why, they wonder how, they ask me if it is a choice, when I knew, how my family reacted, what the new law means to my life and I find that they really want to know; which makes me answer as honestly as I can.

I am hoping that attitudes will change after spending time with a real life gay person and leaving with their humanity, religion, relationship and heterosexuality still intact. I usually have the one question for them: now that you know me, do you still think I should be in jail for 14 years? I haven’t gotten an affirmative yet.

My sudden refusal to hide who I am to make them comfortable in their homophobia is forcing them confront their feelings about the topic. And I believe the more visible gay people are as a community, the faster it will be for others to stop speaking about us in the abstract. We do exist, eat, laugh, love, sleep and work: just like heterosexuals do.

Coming out will not be easy or even an option for everyone, but if you do decide to come out, I wish you luck! Visibility definitely matters.

The truth is, I never wanted to have a conversation about who I have sex with, but because the government and the population is having that conversation, I too am forced to. The simple fact at the end of the day is: I am human. I am Nigerian. I am gay.

Now my social experiment may or may not work. What I do know is that I must try. I will attempt to change minds, tackle homophobia and let Nigerians see a real life gay person: one introduction at a time.