[LINK] "To be gay, Christian and black in Harlem"

[rfmcdonald]

Sarah Thomas' Al Jazeera America article describing African GLBT refugees who end up in New York City, in the historic black neighbourhood of Harlem, definitely caught my attention.

As a gay man in Togo, where homosexuality is punishable by up to three years in prison, Rodrigue (who asked that his last name be withheld because of concerns for his family’s safety) felt in danger. Though the law is rarely enforced, violence against gay men is perceived as a viable and available option among the general public. Rodrigue speaks of young men he has known who have been attacked by acquaintances on the street after school. He says that he was never physically threatened in Togo, then he reluctantly adds, “except by my family.”

“My uncle and aunt threatened to kill me, and it got really crazy.”

The turning point for Rodrigue was when his uncle physically attacked him and Rodrigue ran away. His uncle contacted the police, and from that point on, Rodrigue was effectively a wanted man.

Rodrigue moved to Harlem four years ago, when he was offered a U.N. fellowship. He moved into the International House near Columbia University and embraced his hopeful new life in New York. Though he was supposed to return to Togo four months later, he never went back.

He is part of a subcommunity of gay West African immigrants — a small fraction of the burgeoning West African population in Harlem, which has led to a stretch of 116th Street being called Little West Africa. Many LGBT West African immigrants fear persecution in their home countries and have sought asylum in the U.S.

“It was a pretty clandestine life,” he recalls. “I had to try to act ‘normal.’ Some people there are out, but it’s very rare. And dangerous.”