Global Roundup: Peru Indigenous Trans Woman, Bulgaria Women’s Protests, Namibia Gay Rights, Nigeria Queer Ballroom Scene, Hong Kong LGBTQ Mass Wedding

Curated by FG Contributor Samiha Hossain

Photo: @ UNFPA Peru—Polo Santos

Gaby Huite Tseje, 27, is an indigenous Awajún woman who is fulfilling a childhood dream, running her own business as a stylist in her hometown of Mamayaque, in the El Cenepa district of Peru’s Condorcanqui province, Now, she is striving to reach another dream: equality for Amazonian women and the LGBTQIA+ community.

For me, as a transgender woman, it wasn't easy. I had to endure insults and mistreatment just for being different. -Gaby Huite Tseje

Huampami, the capital of El Cenepa, has gone to the extreme of banning LGBTQIA+ people from entering the town, using the threat of punishment, including thrashing. The leader of the community enacted the ban; the decision was published in a 2022 statement from the El Cenepa district council.

Gaby has received psychosocial support from UNFPA’s Nuwa Senchi project, attending group sessions designed to help form strong, supportive social networks. Nuwa Senchi means “strong woman” in Awajún. In the Condorcanqui province, gender inequality can result in limited education and employment opportunities for women and girls and gender-based violence, carried out with impunity. Recognizing the need for all local women to achieve equality, Gaby has now become a community advocate for the Nuwa Senchi project.

Here in the community, men hit women a lot. Women must not be mistreated. If they know about their rights, they can more easily recognize if their partner is mistreating them. -Gaby Huite Tseje

Gaby and her Nuwa Senchi team members are making strides, helping women and LGBTQIA+ people to access justice and to be safer and healthier. They take a survivor-centred approach, carrying out communication campaigns, sensitizing state and community authorities, and strengthening collaboration among institutions. Since September 2023, the project has reached more than 13,000 people with messaging related to gender-based violence, through community outreach and training. 

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A protest against gender-based violence in Sofia, Bulgaria June 25, 2024. Photo: BIRN/Svetoslav Todorov

Protesters in Sofia gathered on Tuesday under the slogan 'Not One More' to condemn continued gender-based violence, which has seen nine more women killed by male partners in Bulgaria this year. In January, Sofia’s Center for the Study of Democracy stated that 20 women were killed in 2023 and there have been more than 1,400 registered cases of intimate partner violence. 

We refuse to accept the killing of women as just a part of the everyday experience. We reject the tendency for the victim always to be blamed! We need a mass act of solidarity and a societal rejection of patriarchal violence and harassment. -Statement by feminist collectives ‘Feminist Library’ and ‘Levfem’ who organised protest

At the demonstration, which drew several hundred people, women told stories about how intimate partner violence has informed their lives and the lack of institutional support for their recovery. One of the most widely commented cases concerns a woman referred to as Sylvia K., a Ukrainian citizen killed on June 20 by a male partner named Orlin Gigov in Sofia. In January 2023, Gigov was questioned by police after, under the influence of alcohol, he assaulted Sylvia K. According to reports, Gigov has a long history of being violent to women. On Monday, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee described the case as one of “institutional failure”, given that Gigov was charged ten times in the last three years. 

During the protest in Sofia, another one was held in the town of Pernik. The event echoes the protest wave of the summer of 2023 which started after a brutal knife attack on a young woman in the town of Stara Zagora. The public outcry led to amendments to Bulgaria’s Law against Domestic Violence. The case reached court in Plovdiv this February, but on June 5, a court in Stara Zagora ruled that the arrest of the alleged abuser was unlawful because insufficient evidence. The case is still ongoing and the court in Stara Zagora will hear witnesses on July 8.

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Windhoek, June 21, 2024 REUTERS/Opas Onucheyo

A high court in Namibia declared two colonial-era laws that criminalised same-sex acts between men unconstitutional last Friday, in a landmark win for the LGBTQ community in the southern African country. The case was brought by Namibian activist Friedel Dausab with the support of British-based non-governmental organisation Human Dignity Trust.

It's a great day for Namibia. It won't be a crime to love anymore. -Friedel Dausab

Rights campaigners say that, while convictions under the laws on "sodomy" and "unnatural sexual offences" were relatively rare in Namibia, they have perpetuated discrimination against the LGBTQ community and made gay men live in fear of arrest. John Nakuta, a law professor at the University of Namibia, said the court's order can be appealed by the Namibian government within 21 days. Namibia inherited the laws when it gained independence from South Africa in 1990, though same-sex acts between men were initially criminalised under colonial rule.

South Africa has since decriminalised same-sex sexual activity and is the only country on the African continent to allow LGBTQ couples to adopt children, marry and enter civil unions.

This victory also brings much-needed and renewed energy to other decriminalisation efforts across Africa. -Téa Braun, chief executive of the Human Dignity Trust

LGBTQ supporters gathered outside the court carrying banners that read, "Get the law out of my love life", and "Peace, Love, Unity", told Reuters they were overjoyed. Omar van Reenen, co-founder of the Namibia Equal Rights Movement, welcomed the court's judgment and said the LGBTQ community in Namibia could finally feel like equal citizens.

The message that the court sent today is that we have every right to belong and exist in this country and that the constitution protects us. - Omar van Reenen

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Demola Mako/The Fola Francis Ball

The organisers of the Fola Francis Ball – named in honour of a transgender woman who died last year in Nigeria – saw more than 500 people who turned up in a district close to the thriving waterfront area of Nigeria’s commercial heartland, Lagos. Everyone was dressed to fit the neo-gothic theme. The creative duo behind the ball – Ayo Lawson and Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim – were inspired by a similar event they had been to.

We thought we were very queer and very out there, but going to experience a ball really changed our perspective of what it is to be queer and what queer joy really is. -Ayo Lawson

Last year’s first edition of the event was held to celebrate their queer-themed movie 14 Years and a Day, but this year they wanted to honour Fola Francis. Until she drowned close to a Lagos beach at the end of last year, she had been at the heart of the burgeoning underground ballroom scene. She hosted, organised and invited queer people to all the major parties. For many, the Fola Francis ball was an opportunity to pay their respects.

I want to celebrate Fola. When I first started going out, she was always telling me: ‘You look so good’, and it got to my head. It made me confident in being myself. -Ball attendee

At the Fola Francis Ball, some of those who came competed against each other in several categories – butch queen realness, femme queen realness, body, face, voguing and best-dressed. For the organisers, the purpose of a ball in Nigeria is clear: to be a space for self-expression and to celebrate the beauty of diversity, even in the face of fear. And that fear is never far away as it feels like the 2014 Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act criminalises who they are.

The organisers did all they could to create a safe environment. Some of the safety measures included providing changing rooms for those who wanted to dress as their most authentic selves but needed to avoid homophobic and transphobic violence on their way to the venue. They also worked with a private security firm that was committed to inclusion. There was some criticism that the organisers were allowing cisgendered and straight people to come into queer spaces but they insisted they wanted allies, families and friends to attend.

Queer joy is one of the biggest forms of resistance. We want to push the narrative that queer people exist. Changing the narrative of what queer people are seen as in Nigeria. -Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim

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The couples exchanged marriage vows in a hotel ballroom with the officiant joining via video call from 12,000 km away in Utah © Peter PARKS / AFP

10 Hong Kong LGBTQ couples exchanged vows at a hotel ballroom on Tuesday, with an officiant joining via video call from Utah. The Chinese city does not recognise same-sex marriage and the newlyweds had to legally register their marriages in the United States.

For Daisy Ko and Dark Chan, their marriage – even though it came with fewer rights than those of heterosexual couples – was the fulfilment of a dream years in the making. More Hong Kong LGBTQ couples are interested in getting married following a landmark court decision last year that ordered better protections of same-sex couples' rights, organisers of Tuesday's "Pride to Wed" event said. The event was meant as a joyous occasion shared with family and friends, as well as a way to boost public awareness, according to co-organiser Kurt Tung.

I hope one day that everybody will accept the fact that love is not just between men and women. To be able to publicly declare our love for each other today is a very important step for us. -Lucas Peng, 66

Hong Kong's top court last September rejected same-sex marriage, but gave the government two years to set up an alternative framework – potentially in the form of civil unions – to recognise the rights of same-sex couples. The government was conducting a "detailed study" into the complex issues, a top minister said last month, though no public consultation has been announced. Couples needed a private, comfortable setting so they could feel at ease, while homophobia remained a problem in Hong Kong's hospitality industry, Tung said.

Utah has become popular among the LGBTQ community as it only requires the officiant to be located in the state, and marriage ceremonies can be held online. Same-sex couples who are legally married overseas enjoy limited rights while living in Hong Kong, in areas such as taxes, visas, housing and inheritance – the result of years-long legal battles. Some of those rights are still disputed by the government and activists say they hope the upcoming legal framework can protect rights in a more comprehensive way. Newly-wed Chan hoped Hong Kong will one day allow same-sex marriage, so that spouses will have legal status in taking care of one another.

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Samiha Hossain (she/her) is an aspiring urban planner studying at Toronto Metropolitan University. Throughout the years, she has worked in nonprofits with survivors of sexual violence and youth. Samiha firmly believes in the power of connecting with people and listening to their stories to create solidarity and heal as a community. She loves learning about the diverse forms of feminist resistance around the world.