- Source: Dare Odumuye
Dare Odumuye was a Nigerian LGBTQ rights activist, one time executive director of Alliance Right Nigeria and one of the foremost sexual right activist from Nigeria. He was 2004 Ashoka fellow and considered as the erelu of the Gay community in Nigeria.
His Contribution To LGBTQ Community
At a time when Nigerians are unsure and in great denial about the existence of gays or homosexual in their midst, Dare came forward, founded Alliance Right Nigeria, boldly giving a face to what many belief is an alien conception. To the community of gay men and women across Nigeria, this becomes the rallying point.
At great cost to his life and safety, Dare began to organise and succeeded in bringing homosexuality into the public consciousness. He uses facts about realities from the community to advocate for public acceptance of homosexuality and the need to direct prevention efforts on sexually transmitted diseases to benefit the community. At the same time he was implementing direct training to prevent the spread of HIV amongst the community having himself tested positive to the disease in 2001.Till today, no one has been able to match his pioneering effort geared towards greater tolerance among the gay community and the general population.
It was to Dare’s credit that the National AIDS and STD Control Program was able to include the category “men sleeping with men” in all its studies by being able to show the importance of the gay community to all programs for public health given their interaction and intersection with the general population.
Odumuye inspired a new generation of gay activists instilling in them the zeal to fight for their rights and their rightful place in Nigeria. He also targeted the media and policymakers with education to ensure greater understanding of the effects of homophobia. He inspires confidence and self-esteem in the army of gay men he has raised, and, it is rightly to his credit that, today, most of the LGBTQ advocacy groups in Nigeria today are founded or headed by his mentees.
