Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but we won’t forget in a hurry how Dan Yomi, a Nigerian gay man, surprised and delighted us then by sharing an online photo of a passionate kiss with his boyfriend.
From the African Human Rights Media Network
Dan Yomi and his boyfriend sharing a passionate kiss. Photo Source: Twitter
By Mike Daemon
Yomi, who is currently based in the UK, came out to his family sometime early last year on Whatsapp. Since then, he and his boyfriend moved in together and have been living what he calls his best life.
Yomi, who shared the photo of their kiss on social media, said it used to be a huge deal to show the world publicly what they shared privately. That was partly because his boyfriend was still in the closet.
Yomi wrote about Valentine’s Day:
“As it’s our third Val together, I thought I’d share how far we’ve come as two gay Nigerian men in love … with the hope that some queer kid reading from Africa or anywhere around the world can aspire to live free someday.
“I still remember how during our first Val in 2018, we were living secretly in love, couldn’t share our love with family or strangers. We cared so much about what people would say, … which led us to prioritise the opinions of friends, families & strangers over our happiness.
“We felt strongly for each other but never saw us living openly in our true authentic selves even though we were based in a country that legalised homosexuality.
He continued:
“It’s actually crazy saying this now but in order to stop people from talking (and our families from asking too many questions), we almost gave in to pressure & made plans to get married to women just to please everyone but ourselves.
“This unfortunately is the sad reality of many LGBT Africans both in Africa and in the West.
“Fast forward months later, I felt ready to live my truth, to share my story … so I came out of the closet and started living free. A year later, he felt ready and came out to his family too. [I] was so shocked as we never spoke about it [until] the day it happened. … Life just happens and you make some big decisions when you feel ready to.”
We are super proud of Yomi and particularly excited to see two gay Nigerians bring hope to LGBTIQ+ people back home.
This is indeed inspiring proof that love does and can exist between two men, unlike what many believe and have been told.
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