Being a queer person in Nigeria is generally hard, but being a part of the LGBTIQ+ identity while living in Northern Nigeria is even harder. In Nigeria, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was enacted in 2014 and prescribes imprisonment of up to 14 years to anyone found engaging in marriage equality, criminalizing the act of individuals loving each other. Since then, police have raided gatherings of sexual minorities and gender-diverse individuals, labeling them “gay marriages.” The law also criminalizes gross indecency between men with penalties of up to three years in prison, while those living in twelve Northern Nigerian states are governed by Sharia law, which prescribes punishments ranging from lashings to stoning, depending on marital status. These punishments are enforced by the Sharia police, Hisbah.
In Northern Nigeria, Yan Daudu is a phenomenon that classifies effeminate men and transgender people in Hausa culture, highlighting queerness as an identity as old as time. Similar to many other Nigerian cultures, queerness has always existed, and those who exist on the margins must be given a voice to document their stories. Through Wiki for Human Rights, LGBTIQ+ Nigeria, the team organized a training for Queer people living in Kaduna, a state in Northern Nigeria that houses the ancient dynasty of Zaria, known for Queen Amina of Zaria, the woman who defied patriarchy in a male-dominated kingdom in the ancient Hausa culture.
Wiki for Human Rights, LGBTIQ+, in its bid for inclusion, understands that advocacy is not meant to be palatable when building an equitable society that includes everyone, regardless of intersecting identities. While Wikimedia project trainings on contributing to the open knowledge ecosystem had previously been held in a few states in Southern Nigeria, none had taken place in Northern Nigeria until Kaduna. The team understood that to build an ecosystem that includes everyone and diversifies voices, it must also diversify editors. Through this, voices from different parts of the country can be presented in the world’s most populous Black nation.
The partner organization was an LGBTIQ+ group based in Kaduna that works with marginalized communities. Through the partnership, we collaborated by using their safe and inclusive space while also working together to gather young queer people ready to make an impact and document queer history in Northern Nigeria. Through Write for Rights, introduced in 2021, queer Nigerian editors have produced culturally sensitive articles, such as Yan Daudu, alongside several other articles on queer Nigerian figures that would not have existed without the initiative and rapid grant funding.
We understand the power of Wikipedia as an open knowledge ecosystem that’s widely read across the globe, especially as Google searches often lead users to Wikipedia. While there has been a growing crackdown on LGBTIQ+ art in Nigeria, from literature to film, Wikimedia, as a global organization, provides an avenue for queer content to exist. With the inclusion of queer Nigerian identities, culture, and history on Wikimedia projects, future generations will be able to look back proudly at how we helped shape the culture today.
The event had 15 editors, and the facilitator, Kaizenify, gave participants a run-through on how to set up accounts, edit Wikipedia, contribute to Wikidata, and upload files to Wikimedia Commons. Participants successfully created accounts and made significant edits that track the contribution of LGBTIQ+ Nigerian editors across Wikimedia projects. Since tracking began in October, there have been 42 articles created, 851 articles edited, 3,900 total edits, 113 commons uploads, 211,000 words added, and 3 million article views.
Wiki for Human Rights, LGBTIQ+ Nigeria, believes that community is not built in a day but through consistent work and intentional efforts toward growth. We hope to keep building this community and continuously shaping the movement through editor retention and sustained contributions to the Wikimedia ecosystem.
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