The Trans & Intersex History Africa (TIHA) digital archive is a space where African trans, gender diverse and/or intersex activists share our archival collections, memories, reflections and facts. It is the first and only growing record of the histories/herstories/theirstories of our movements on our continent and in the African Diaspora in one archival space.

The digital archive includes a timeline of events, contributions include the founding dates of the early trans, gender diverse and/or intersex organisations/groups, as well as individuals’ accomplishments in law and politics, sport, art, music and other private domains, along with contributions towards positive change for trans, gender diverse and intersex struggles for our human rights on the African continent and in the African Diaspora.

The TIHA digital archive was started by three African trans, gender diverse and intersex activists – Julius Kaggwa (Uganda), Victor Mukasa (Uganda) and Liesl Theron (South Africa).

We have been actively involved in various ways and in various capacities before and during the inception years of the African trans, gender diverse and intersex movements as they are known today. Over the years of working with and alongside each other, we have become good friends, and after many discussions we realised that we had a shared aim to combine all of the information that we have been part of and collected over the years and to present it on one platform that will be easily accessible to all who are interested. 

One of the main reasons behind the creation of this archive was our passionate refusal to let the histories/herstories/theirstories of the trans, gender diverse and intersex movements in Africa and the African Diaspora become lost, or misunderstood, distorted, or misrepresented, all of which would weaken the current and future work of trans, gender diverse and intersex individuals and organisations on the continent and in the Diaspora. Having these influential moments told by African trans, gender diverse and/or intersex activists in their own voices is an essential part of empowering the African movements, enabling movement building and therefore strengthened advocacy by sharing our lived experiences, counteracting the silencing and re-writing of our stories by anti-gender and anti-rights movements. 

As we were part of the beginnings of the movements, in documenting these histories/herstories/theirstories in the voices of activists themselves as accurately as we can, we want to provide a clear understanding of the strength of African trans, gender diverse and intersex movements by documenting evidence of how long and how hard African activists and organisations have worked towards human rights for African trans, gender diverse and intersex people. 

Several scholars have built a canon of knowledge about the existence of homosexuality, same-sex relations and gender non-conformity in pre-colonial Africa. In a contemporary context, however, LGBTQIA+ history has largely remained silent African trans, gender diverse and intersex people, partly due to the lack of available knowledge in academia and on the internet, but also due to the silencing of voices that don’t fit the dominant LBQ narrative, because it makes people uncomfortable.

Bearing witness to the events that helped shape and influence the African trans, gender diverse and intersex movements, and providing readers with the chance to bear witness to it, provides irrefutable proof that we have always existed, that we are not going anywhere, and that we are a force for change to be reckoned with! As our co-founder, Victor Mukasa says:

“It is important that African trans, gender diverse an intersex people speak for ourselves, because these are our experiences, these are our stories, these are our lives. It is our challenges, it is our joys, it is us […] When we do it ourselves, then we own it, because it is our life […] A movement without history that is documented and placed somewhere accessible is a movement that works blindly. To have a vision, we need to realise where we have come from. This is what gives us strength […] It is the fuel that drives us. It is our pride. It is the torch that every time things get difficult, we can look back on, to see how far we have come, see what we did to come that far. It is important to show the resilience of people […] Documentation is wealth to those who will come after us […] It is important to show the resilience of people in Africa so that we have something that will energise those who come after. The pride they will have in their history will push them into preserving that and to fighting for every trans and intersex person who comes after.” — Victor Mukasa

Watch this video where Liesl, one of the co-founders, speaks more about TIHA’s work in relation to the histories/herstories/theirstories of the African trans and intersex movements. 

Read more.

To share your moments and stories, please email research@transintersexhistory.africa