When Vincent Desmond started the queer thread in Nigeria, I didn't know that so much people will actually post their faces identifying as queer. Without fear of being bullied or harassed going forward. VISIBILITY.

Over the past couple of months, maybe even years, —

A lot of LGBTQIAP+ folks in Nigeria have come out of Anon accounts, become visible and have been taking up space. I'm one of them. I came out on my Twitter March this year and from then onwards, it's been me constantly trying to take up space, be out there in their faces —

and speak my truth. And I applaud every other person who has. And those who haven't are still very much valid.

In March, when the #EndHomophobiaInNigera trended, I saw another emotion that made me happy. ANGER. Now, I'm not proud as a Nigerian for the way that hashtag started, that a man had to lose his life for the conversation to be held on a national scale like that. But seeing —

the outburst from the community and its allies that day and the days after, I began to have hope again. After that, I've seen several cases where the blood of the community was made to boil.

Anger is such a powerful ingredient in any fight for change. And I want you all to be —

angry. Not passively angry but very angry. I swear, I wake up every single day now with a rage, because I remember that the previous night, I went to bed a criminal. A criminal who is yet to be caught.

I want you to be angry because just when you dig and think you wouldn't —

any other group of humans at the bottom of the food chain, you find the queer community. I want you to be angry because of that your friend who was harassed by the police or that story you read on Twitter. I want you to be angry because every time we talk about queer —

liberation in Nigeria, they remind us that there are "bigger issues", that our lives are smaller than the electricity and unemployment issues of this country. I want you to be angry!

And lastly, I've seen queer folks SPEAK UP and challenge even the "mighty" and small. I've seen all of us amplify each other's voices. The retweets we give each other, the support when one of us is under attack.

We've been so loud that they've given us several stupid names.

Rainbow children.
LGTV Twitter.

It is that noise that will get our message across. So keep shouting.

Ultimately, I think these three things I've highlighted: VISIBILITY, ANGER and SPEAKING UP is what will get us across the finish line. So keep at it.

And if you don't engage as a member of queer Twitter (Qwitter), it is totally OK.

You can join the fight at any point.

I know it is tempting to think the work we all do here is futile. After all, it's just "online wars"

It's not. When people have to think twice before making homophobic posts/tweets, then there is lesser chances for them to influence/incite violence.

Happy mid week y'all.

Talking about visibility, I'm trying to do that on other platforms too. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-h23Anq29quCz9KOozDQg