In the Ivory Coast, the Travesti* was a prominent group, recognised and documented from the early 1990s, but they were most likely active before the 90s**. They formed L’association des Travestis de Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast Transvestites Association), under the leadership of Barbara (full name withheld for safety reasons). 

The first record of the group is from printed media in 1994, where journalists were quite sarcastic in their attitude towards the travestis and the group, using disrespectful, critical language and tone, which was harmful to the travestis population. A militant group of travesti activists stormed the building where the newspaper’s offices were located, broke some windows, and assaulted some of the journalists. According to the research document Violence, Exclusion and Resilience among Ivoirian Travestis by Matthew Thomann and Robbie Corey-Boulet, this 1994 incident and similar occurrences during the same time led to the formation of the Ivory Coast Transvetites Association. 

Read more here and here about travesti and other gender variant identities from the Ivory Coast.

* “Travestis” is the French word for “transvestites”.

 ** The exact founding date is not clear, but according to different sources, the Association has existed since the early 1990s.