“It is important that we as African trans and intersex people speak for ourselves” — Victor Mukasa
This statement by one of Trans and Intersex History Africa’s (TIHA) founders, Victor Mukasa, speaks to the rationale behind the TIHA project, the histories of trans and intersex movements in Africa, and the importance of archiving our histories/herstories/theirstories
“It is important that African trans and 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. No other person can speak better for trans and intersex people than ourselves. And we have the ability and that is why we are doing it on the TIHA website because we can do this ourselves and we are able to collect our stories, with support. This is why we have to go back and look for all those that contributed, all those that experienced life in these identities. History gets distorted if those who experienced it are not the ones telling it. In order for us to get an authentic account of where we come from, we need to get it from the trans and intersex people themselves in Africa. When we do it ourselves then we own it because it is our life. We own it.“
“It is known worldwide that 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. That is what gives us strength. The histories of trans and intersex people in Africa need to be documented and made accessible for this reason.That documentation is wealth to those who will come after us. That documentation, our histories, are the fuel that drives us. It is our pride, it is the torch that every time things get difficult we look back, see how far we have come, see what we did to come that far.“
“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.“
“Until about 2005, with the exception of South Africa, the T and I in LGBTIQ organisations in Africa was just a decoration and something that attracted funding to LGB organisations. We as trans and intersex people were members of these organisations yet we did not understand what the T and I really stood for, what it really meant. It was in theory. However, upon finding ourselves as trans and intersex people we actually realised that if you look at history of the LGBTIQ movements today that a lot of organisations were founded by trans and intersex people. For instance, in Uganda, I played a big role in the founding of Freedom and Roam Uganda, and I played a big role in the founding, establishment and building of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). It is not documented that trans people actually founded these organisations because gender identity was not a part of the discourse in our communities in Africa till very recently.”
“Many of us identified as butch lesbians or as effeminate gay men but in reality, on finding ourselves, we realised we are actually trans people and/or actually intersex people. So it is important that we begin to look far back at what pushed us and we will then see that it was not just about our sexual orientations, it was about our gender identities too, because some of our experiences as minorites happened even before the founding of LGBTIQ organisations, and were rooted in the fact that we were trans and/or intersex people. And we need to document this.”
“That documentation is wealth to those who will come after us. That documentation, our histories, are the fuel that drives us. It is our pride, it is the torch that every time things get difficult we look back, see how far we have come, see what we did to come that far. It is important to show that resilience of people in Africa so that we have something that will energise those who come after. The pride they will have will push them into preserving that and to fighting for every trans and intersex person who comes after.”
“The intersex people were a taboo of society in Africa. Today parents are seeking out intersex organizations to advise them on how to deal with these children. Today parents know these children are normal and need support. Today the advocacy for inclusion and care for intersex people exists because of what those who came before the current generation did. The question is what did they did and do to put this in the spotlight?”
“This is why we have to go back and look for all those that contributed all those that experienced life in these identities. It is important for us to go back and find out and hear their stories, document them and place them somewhere where they can be accessed by those who need them.”
“A bit about my personal history might be helpful. I took myself to be a butch lesbian in the community and it was not until I travelled to South Africa that I knew that actually I am a trans person when I went to the Gay and Lesbian Archives and found a picture of a trans man binding their breasts, their chest.”
“Before then, I thought I was the only human being in the world that was doing that to their chest and upon inquiry about what they were doing from Musa Ngubane and a caucasian man who was working there at GALA, those two told me that that was a trans man. There’s a long story there, and that is when I came out as trans. The importance of that experience was that when I went back to Uganda, I called all those who identify as trans or think they are trans, and it was through that that the first trans organisation in Uganda was established. It was called Trans Intersex and Transsexuals of Uganda (TITS). And that was the beginning of our journey of organising in Uganda. It comes from a personal story, my travels, my experiences where I travelled and the realisation that I am trans and therefore coming back to Uganda and beginning to call people, mobilising people. And slowly slowly eventually we had a trans organisation and a movement started to grow in Uganda.”
“It is important to document how we moved from not being aware of what gender identity is to a realisation that actually we were transgender all the time but just didn’t have a name for our identities. It’s important to show how we moved from there to the founding of the first transgender organisations in Uganda, in Kenya, in West Africa because we only had Gender Dynamix on the continent. How did we move to where we are today where we have trans and intersex organisations in Africa? How did we move from TITS in Uganda and Transgender Education and advocacy (TEA) in Kenya to the Nairobi declaration? How did we get to the first East African and Francophone workshop in Cape Town? It’s important to know where GDX comes from as well as that it was supportive to these processes. But from these processes how did the inclusion of Lusophone Africa come in? How did Francophone Africa come in, and how did we move from there to the establishment of organisations in the different parts of Africa that we have today? The strength of the movement on the continent is growing.“
“It is important to show those stages in the journey we have taken, and while doing that noting down the challenges we have faced, the joys we have experienced, noting down our thought experiences because some of these actually happened in our minds. There is a lot that happened in my mind before I came out as trans that led me to understanding that this is who I am before I got to that point. So among the things we should document or look out for are the thought processes in people’s minds as well as the actions we have taken in organisations, and the challenges and celebrations and milestones.”
