My Life In Tweets

Dear KDians,

A Call For Entries was made about a month ago by the 14 team for works that tell the stories of LGBT Nigerians. The response so far has been heartwarming, and it gives us hope that so many artists, LGBT and non-LGBT, are ready at the shortest notice to preach the message of love, empathy and mutual-respect. (There were even works sent in by non-Nigerians, a real heartwarming gesture).

However, there is an aspect of the call that hasn’t received much attention. My Life in Tweets was included in the anthology to encourage the active participation of people, especially LGBT people, who might not be able to tell their story through the mediums of short memoir, photography, poetry, commentary. We live in the age of the internet, and perhaps we as LGBT people have claimed this medium more than any other community. I have a Twitter account where I can exhibit my uninhibited sluttiness (you’re welcome, lol) and write whatever I like without pause. I have also carried over friendships from Kito Diaries to that place.

In a few days, I would love to see this hashtag – #IAmQueer – catch fire, as we use it to tell our stories mentioning @naijaqueerart to our tweets. The closing date for the entries was yesterday, December 8, but for this twitter exercise, there is an extension till Monday, December 12. Before then, let us tell our stories to one another and to the world. The 14 team will pick some of the tweets for publication in the anthology. Come January 13 2017, we hope to give Goodluck Jonathan the middle finger. I cried on that day two years ago, as did some people I know. Now is the time for the middle finger. This year, Istanbul’s Pride march was shut down, as was Uganda’s. Lagos is yet to have a Pride march, but this could be the beginning. Be a part of something good.

In case you are wondering how this is done, here are a few examples:

Love,

Rapum Kambili

For the 14 team