Homophobia indeed transcends borders, but the case was quite different for Dan Yomi, an out U.K.-based Nigerian gay man who recently hosted an LGBTQ+ event at a Nigerian restaurant in the U.K.
From the African Human Rights Media Network
Dan Yomi (center) and guests at the dinner he hosted.
By Mike Daemon
The Inaugural Dinner was held 23 November to honor the 12 guests who have graced his YouTube show “Living Free with Dan” and to mark the end of the show’s first season.
Yomi is the founder of Living Free UK, a social enterprise aimed at validating the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ Africans, asylum seekers and refugees. He said that for him the event “was an emotional roller-coaster.” His initiative is now accepted and celebrated by prominent individuals who have shared their experiences with him, he said.
What was particularly significant about the event, he said, was that a successful LGBTQ+ event could be held at a Nigerian-owned restaurant in the U.K. Because many Nigerians living abroad are still very homophobic, he had been worried that things could go wrong.
Yomi ended the evening discussing with one of the restaurant staff about being gay and the need for heterosexual Nigerians to be more accepting of all people and not judgmental about whom they fall in love with, he said.
See photos from the event below.
To learn more about Yomi’s initiative, click HERE.
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