On 25 February 2006, Kenyan-born Biko Beauttah arrived in Canada to seek asylum because being considered homosexual is a criminal offence in her home country. Biko left Kenya a few years prior to attend college in the USA. Having come…
July 2005 — Trans and LGBTQIA+ Activist, Victor Mukasa, Sues Government, Uganda On 20 July 2005, trans man and LGBTQIA+ activist Victor Mukasa’s house was raided by the police without a search warrant. They were looking for documents relating to…
July 2005 — Founding of First South African Trans Rights Organisation, Gender DynamiX (GDX), South Africa Gender DynamiX (GDX), the first registered South African-based organisation and one of the first African-based organisations focusing solely on the trans community, was founded…
2005 — Fondation du Collectif Arc-En-Ciel (CAEC), Maurice / Collectif Arc-En-Ciel (CAEC) (The Rainbow Collective) Founded, Mauritius Fondé en 2005 par Nathalie Germain, Nicolas Ritter, Thierry De Ravel et Jean-Luc Ahnee, le Collectif Arc-En-Ciel (CAEC) est une ONG de défense…
3 March 2004 — Founding of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Uganda On 3 March 2004, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), now known as SMUG International, was founded by trans man and activist, Victor Mukasa, along with Sylvia Tamale. The earliest members…
South Africa hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup, and on 9 February 2003. During the Parade of Nations and as part of the opening ceremony, the event’s organisers appointed models to walk in the parade, holding banners to represent each…
2000 to 2007 — Creation of Trans Support and Social Groups, South Africa Between 2000 and 2007, before Gender DynamiX (South Africa’s first trans advocacy group) was founded in 2005, the need for support groups for trans people led to…
Featured in international film festivals in 1998, the documentary, Woubi Chéri, directed by Laurent Bocahut and Philip Brooks, focused on the lives of Woubis*, Yossis**, and other members of the Branché*** community in Ivory Coast. The award-winning documentary was featured…
1994 — First Printed Media Reference to The Travesti, Côte d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast 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**.…
In the early 1970s, Mozambique was still under colonial rule. In April 1974, political upheaval in Lisbon, Portugal resulted in a coup within the Portuguese military and the dictatorship in Portugal was overthrown. This had a ripple effect on the…
While cross-dressing, queerness, homosexuality, and all forms of LGBTIQ+ identities as known today were not widely accepted in day-to-day life in Mozambique, during the 1950s through to the mid-1970s, the annual Carnival provided an opportunity for ‘male’ femininity, cross-dressing, and…