In honor of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), None On Record, a digital media project that “collects the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Africans from the African continent and the diaspora,” produced a series of five video interviews with LGBT-identifying individuals from Kenya and Uganda.
The five—a chef, a lawyer, two social activists, and a biologist/geneticist—came together to relay coming-out stories, lend insight to living and working under fraught politics, and, most importantly, drive home the refreshing yet underreported normalcy of LGBT life in the region. The conversations are important and poignant—but more notably, just plain charming. It’s quite in keeping with None On Record’s mission: to add to “the growing histories told by LGBT Africans all over the world. LGBT Africans are everywhere—within the neighborhoods of Dakar, Toronto, Nairobi, New York City and London and in the small towns and villages around the world.”