Gay Men In Ivory Coast Attacked After Honoring Orlando Victims
“We are afraid now. There is no security.”
Denis Doyle via Getty Images
DAKAR
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Six gay men in Ivory Coast were abused
and forced to flee their homes after they were pictured signing a
condolence book for victims of the recent attack on a gay nightclub in
Florida, a rights group said on Wednesday.
The
U.S. embassy in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan hosted an event a
fortnight ago to honor the Florida victims and published a photo of the
six men on its website with the caption: ‘LGBTI community signing the
condolence book’.
A
gunman pledging allegiance to the Islamic State militant group killed
49 people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub on June 12 in the deadliest mass
shooting in modern U.S. history.
Days
after the tribute in Abidjan, Louna, one of the men in the photo, was
walking in his neighborhood when a mob pushed him to the ground, stole
his phone and wallet, and beat him.
“I don’t have a life anymore,” said the 36-year-old, who only gave his nickname for fear of further attacks.
Louna said he did not know the photo had been posted online until a friend called him and told him that he had seen it.
“I
can’t go out. I don’t know who might recognize me,” he told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation by phone from Abidjan, adding that he fears he will
never be able to return home.
Another
man in the picture was also attacked after the photo was circulated on
Facebook and other websites, said the head of an Abidjan-based gay
rights group, who asked to remain anonymous.
The other four men in the photo were verbally abused, and all six fled their homes, he added.
While
the director of the rights group gave the U.S. embassy permission to
post the photo on their website, he said he would not have done so if he
had known what the caption would say.
“We are afraid now. There is no security,” he said.
Ivory Coast is one of the few African countries where same-sex acts are legal and have never been criminalized.
While
it is considered one of the most tolerant countries for sexual
minorities in the region, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
people face widespread abuse, stigma, and violence, rights groups say.
The photo remained on the U.S. embassy’s website as of Wednesday. Embassy officials were not immediately available to comment.
(Reporting
By Nellie Peyton, Editing by Kieran Guilbert and Katie Nguyen.; Please
credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking,
corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
No comments:
Post a Comment