‘I feel invisible’: The challenges of being trans in Nigeria

 | 
11/01/2021

Tom Kola was five years old when he realised he was a boy. But it took more than two decades and a move halfway across the world before he would have an official document to prove it. Growing up in Nigeria, Tom did not have the language to articulate his trans identity. But he understood that being raised as a girl did not feel natural. Still, relatives would tell him he was one and needed to act like it – including in the clothes he wore and the chores he did. “My parents wanted me to be calmer, docile, less active and less confrontational because this was how they thought girls should behave,” says Tom over video call from the United States, where he relocated in 2019 in the hope of finding a more accepting society. Now aged 25, he is an MSc student and living as a trans man. This is not his first time away from home. He first left his family home to attend university in a different Nigerian state. With that came the freedom to dress, walk and talk in a way that felt true to who he was. But, whenever he returned home, it became a source of conflict.

Regions: ,

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
On 22 October, Chinese host and dancer Jin Xing sparked an online uproar with a lengthy post on Weibo charging that her performance application …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
Japan’s Tokyo High Court ruled that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional during a hearing on Wednesday. The Tokyo court ruled that the …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Other News from ,

Added on: 11/04/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/02/2024
Mali’s de facto parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex acts in the junta-led country, the latest in Africa to adopt legislation targeting LGBTQ …
Added on: 11/02/2024
A landslide election victory has set the stage for LGBTQ rights supporter Duma Boko to become the next president of Botswana, where homosexuality was …