official name: Ethiopia
capita: Addis Ababa
president: GIRMA woldegiorgis
population: 67.8 million
languages: Amaharic Tigrinya Oromgn
currency: ETB
Religion: 45% Muslim 35% Ethiopian Orthodox
homosexual status: Illegal
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Ethiopia
The fate of Muslim Lesbians in Ethiopia
My name is Amire I’m 28 years old born and raised in
Ethiopia I only have 3 brothers I’m the third in the family, I don’t
even know how my story would bring me, death or being stoned to death I
don’t know, I’m a Muslim but I must admit that many times I have done
so much wrong against Islam the same with a lot of my relatives and elders
that take Islam seriously.
I don’t know why I’m lesbian, I have always
preferred women and I know when they discover this about me anything can
happen where ever I go to, but this is what I have gone through and I’m
about to flee soon. In 1999 I started communicating with another girl from
another country, we had so much to talk and yes it was a mistake to keep
some of the letters I received from her, I’m sure you will be surprised
that the other girl was also Muslim aged 25.
We really talked about issues regarding us being able to
meet and seeing to it that we would never be forced to get married. My
father has always been busy travelling all the time and my mother is just
a house wife that is very loyal to my father, one time my mum noticed that
I received a letter from outside the country, that raised concern but she
somehow thought I was trying to find a man to marry me, wrong, this
particular letter had things explaining more about lesbians in my friends
country and how thy looked at it.
It was so good for me to read about things like these,
obviously I would never even attempt to look at a straight porn magazine
in shops, its not normal for a girl in Islam country. So I enjoyed reading
what she wrote and what I had to imagine, the thing is that my friend had
a friend in New York and she would secretly send her magazines about
lesbians.
So the next letter I got from her had a cutting in it,
it was the first time I ever saw two women playing in that way and knowing
that they where lesbians, it really pushed me to want to know more and
want to experience it. To be honest we all want to try out things its not
about how my culture wants me to be no, its about who I am and that is
forbidden in our law, I know I’m lesbian and its not about me being
insane I a agree with my religion that yes if they find out about me they
should punish me but at the sometime I want to do and enjoy what I want.
Its been a bit hard for my friend too in that she has to
try and be discreet about what is going on that side and how she
communicates to me, the latest letter I got from her she explained to me
to me that they have found a man to marry her and now she does not know
how to escape that and how she will manage to do hard thing like having
sex with a man, being lesbian I don’t think one would want to go through
that experience. As time went on my side my mother kept on insisting to
find out if I was trying to find someone to marry me which I always never
wanted to talk about because it was less interesting and I never even
imagined having a husband.
Few weeks later my mother went through my letters and
found all the letters from my friend and the cuttings she sent me, my
mother went ballistic, she was almost collapsing that day my whole world
changed to the worst. She did not bother to ask me so what she did was she
called her brother and one of her friends to talk about how they would
change and punish me. I was called and was told that I was to move in with
my uncle who was going to help me change oh no he was instead helping me
to dig my own grave and getting all he could for himself.
Interview by Ndanji
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