So I decided to write to you on how to stay safe as a gay Nigerian. The silence, or laughter, from the audience gave approval to that kind of bigoted thinking. I was so irritated I had to leave because nobody called him out.
I couldn’t even wait to hear his short story. I had to confirm what he had said by asking him to repeat himself, which he did in clearer terms. Last Sunday, at a weekly literary gathering in Kaduna, a bearded dark macho guy openly said, smiling with a perfect row of white teeth, “I am homophobic, so writing this story was very difficult for me” as if he expected the audience to give him a standing ovation.
