GAY life in Nigeria , i am a gay man and also HIV positive i have faced a lot of stigma because of my status as a gay man and also living with HIV , my family has disown me because they feel i have been coursed by god and am been punished by god, Avery day of my life i live in fear and pain because am not able to live the kind of life i will want to live , but one thing that brings me joy is the fact that even in the face of all this issues am able to change my community members lives (MSM)many of them now believe that HIV is real because they have seen some one who is infected,many who are infected now know the right things to do and get health care services they are now members of the support group which is for MSM alone , am also glad about the organization where i work because we provide services for MSM and also have a clinic specific for MSM alone where they get ARVs with out going out there to be stigmatized by health care workers . all this we have achieved in Nigeria even in face of all the stigma and laws against gay people in Nigeria

On the 12th of jan 2011, a day before the PDP Primaries, PUNCH newspaper published an interview with the Gay Association of Nigeria {the interview was done on the 11th at a hotel in Abuja}. The interview in question, was done by some executive members of the Association but a whole lot of members turned up for support.... During the interview, Vikky labbele stated when he was asked who 'GAN' will support for primaries and said ALHAJI ATIKU. He said the association will support Atiku because he is father/businessman and an understanding person who they believe can make Nigeria better. He never said Atiku was gay. He further stated that GAN, like any other association has rights to declare support for who ever they want like its done in developed countries around the world. That said interview generated a lot of controversy and was believed to be cause of Atiku's downfall during the presidential primaries because he lost the primaries woefully. The issue at hand now is that Atiku loyalist have vowed to seek every member of GAN out dispose them....... As i write this report now, The SSS are on the tail of the members of GAN who are already on the run from Atiku's loyalist {the loyalist have murdered 2 members as at the 29th}. All the executive and most members of GAN are on the run for their lives.
The question now is that, How long will we keep running, What will happen to our jobs and houses since we are in no position to trust anybody? The said interview can be checked online on http://www.punchng.com/Archive.aspx?datex=01%2F12%2F2011 . This is an SOS call. On easter monday, three houses in three different locations belonging to some members was burnt down. How long do we have to endure this torture? Adeyinka is currently the project director for Gay Association of Nigeria and he is creator of 'Nigerian gay lesbian bisexual lovers and friends on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154681804546033. Adeyinka can be reached on adeyinkacartwak@yahoo.com

On the 12th of jan 2011, a day before the PDP Primaries, PUNCH newspaper published an interview with the Gay Association of Nigeria {the interview was done on the 11th at a hotel in Abuja}. The interview in question, was done by some executive members of the Association but a whole lot of members turned up for support.... During the interview, Vikky labbele stated when he was asked who 'GAN' will support for primaries and said ATIKU. He said the association will support Atiku because he is father/businessman and understanding person who they believe can make Nigeria better. He never said Atiku was gay. He further stated that GAN can like any other association has rights to declare support for who ever they want like its done in developed countries around the world. That said interview generated a lot of controversy and was believed to be cause of Atiku's downfall because he lost the primaries woefully. The issue at hand now is that Atiku loyalist have vowed to seek every member of GAN out dispose them....... As i write report now, The SSS are on the tail of the members who are already on the run from Atiku's loyalist {they have murdered 2 members as at the 29th}. All the executive and most members of GAN are on the run for their lives.
The question now is that, How long will we keep running, What will happen to our jobs and houses since we are in no position to trust anybody? The said interview can be checked online on http://www.punchng.com/Archive.aspx?datex=01%2F12%2F2011 . Thhis write up is written by Adeyinka Cartwak. Adeyinka is currently the project director for Gay Association of Nigeria and he is creator of 'Nigerian gay lesbian bisexual lovers and friends on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154681804546033. Adeyinka can be reached on adeyinkacartwak@yahoo.com

I was in Nigeria in Summer of 2009. I had a fantastic time there. The social life of lesbians was mostly visible in Abuja and Lagos. I was moving in circles of upper and middle class individuals so I cannot speak wider than this. The reactions I got from men were of a highly sexualized nature. Some of them found it arousing in the sense that they say lesbians as sexually adventurous and had high hopes for a threesome. This, I found offensive. Even more offensive was a discussion I had with a guy who told me of how he attended a party with many lesbians in Abuja. He was particularly hostile when he spoke of butch lesbians or girls who chose butch lesbians as sexual partners. He insinuated that he would support anyone who took the liberty of "correcting their sexual practices" i.e. rape or coerced sex.

Aside from that, I could not hold hands with my girlfriend in public or even dare to sneak a kiss but in the elitist clubs it was all well and good and no one batted an eyelid.

I started work with my present organization in February 2007, i was their first employee and was placed on a very little salary because at that point the company had not started generating money. When we got our first contract, i worked weekends alone with the Managing Director, sometimes, when i close, i get called out again to work at night.

Later that Year, two tech guys that were so nice to me till date and a lady was employed under me, and then another two ladies, till we became 20 in the office. We worked amicably until the Managers started being intimate with the female employees. I didn't care because i always wear my engagement ring from my partner which they all guessed must be a man.

At a point, they started rumoring that my friends on Facebook are mostly girls and that i chat with only girls, i did not bother. When they talk about their boyfriends, i move away because i dont want anybody to want to hear my story.

The MD called me one evening after close of work that he wanted to visit my house. I lied that i was living with my sister, and there he promised to give me rent to move out of my sisters house so that he will be coming to eat our native soup in my house.

I kept hiding from him, until he shocked me with questions about my sexuality. I lied, (because of the rate of discrimination and stigmatization in my country)yet he demoted me and always make reference of me in meetings although without mentioning my name, yet everyone knows who he is always referring to.

Right now, i have been given a dress code, for only me and also warned that i should never be in contact with any female agent working under me and the most painful part is that the people i employed are now my bosses.

I have learnt a lot my self and i have vowed to embrace being an activist to make sure nobody ever experiences what i have. I working towards making my name while still here so that they will know that the stone that was rejected can become the chief corner stone.

i am writing with deep fear and am psychologically disturbed for reasons that i will be persecuted in some sort such as to be subjected
to being openly punished and humiliated by my family relatives and feared that my cultural clan in Edo,Nigeria will make me insane because i am a bisexual. Since March, 2009 i have been a bisexual and i told a close relative about my current sexual position but he has accused me strongly on the phone and vowed with other family relatives in line with our culture that it is a taboo and i shall be subjected to curses and threatened i will be put to be insane for being a bisexual. Currently i fear returning home after i last visited in 2008 Christmas. I am a Masters student(writing my final thesis on gender representation)temporarily residing in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. I am Psychologically imbalanced and am on the verge of terminating my MA studies and fear that my residency here expires in September,2010.I am grip with fear to return home.I fear to be insane especially.
North Cyprus is politically an unrecognized country and not part of the EU competent countries where i may find refuge.I dont want to be a destitute here after my studies but I am scared and dread returning home. I am an Orphan and the only child of my Late parents. the end of me implies the end of my father's generation to come. I dont want to change my sexual position however.