Binyavanga Wainaina, an African literary figure, recently released an essay to celebrate his 43rd birthday telling the world he is gay in a time where homosexuals are being attacked, jailed, and killed in Africa, the Associated Press reported.
Wainaina said he knew he was gay since he was 5-years-old but never acted on his feelings until the age of 39, according to the AP. During an interview with the AP, Wainaina said he came out at the age of 43 because he felt like he needed to preserve his dignity.
"All people have dignity. There's nobody who was born without a soul and a spirit," Wainaina told the AP. "There is nobody who is a beast or an animal, right? Every one, we, we homosexuals, are people and we need our oxygen to breathe."
In his essay, he expresses regret and not telling him mother about his homosexuality before she passed 14 years ago, the AP reported.
In Kenya, Wainaina's hometown, homosexuality is not a crime but sodomy is, and homosexual partners usually receive negative attention from the police, according to the AP. Uganda recently passed a law that can give gay men life in prison for some gay acts.
Homosexual sex is illegal in almost all African countries and gays are coming under more scrutiny and harassment as more laws against homosexual activity are passed, leading to judicial punishment like life in prison or death.
With the extreme tensions against gays in Africa, Wainaina is not afraid at exposing his true sexual orientation. Instead, he hopes it will encourage others to also come out, especially the older professionals who have been living a "double life," according to the AP.
During the interview in which Wainaina's hair was dyed in rainbow colors, he lashed out against the recently passed laws and criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, the AP reported.
"I can't sleep at night because there are people who I may know or who I don't even know ... who may be dying or being beaten or being tortured right now in a Nigerian cell or three weeks ago in a Ugandan one," Wainaina said.
Eleven men were arrested in Nigeria on Wednesday as thousands of anti-gay protesters demanded they be executed for their crimes: belonging to gay organizations, the AP reported. In Nigeria, a gay organization could be considered a meeting, or an AIDs program.
The Same Sex Prohibition Act passed by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan makes it illegal to hold a gay meeting, halting efforts to fight AIDS, human right activist told the AP.
The 11 accused men needed to be abruptly removed from the court rooms as protesters launched stones in to the court located in the Nigerian city of Bauchi, according to the AP.
