A Love Letter to Queer Africans
Photo by Oladimeji Odunsi on Unsplash
Existing as you are is an incredible act of resistance. Simply being yourself — without effort, without fighting — is defiance in its purest form.
It is both a beautiful and on exhausting life to live in an identity others struggle to understand. I am both sorry—and so deeply grateful—that you are here.
I am sorry that you have to exist at this exact time when there are laws in place that want to deny you life. I am sorry that trust in healthcare is not guaranteed and even when it is you have to explain yourself.
I am sorry that in a world already set against you for your skin color, your ability, your income status — you are forced to choose which part of yourself will grant you access to community and which part might cost you belonging.
I am sorry your existence is politicized, reduced to a talking point, debated by people who will never know your reality and get to decide your access to care. I am sorry that at times survival can mean choosing between belonging and isolation. I am sorry it doesn’t seem possible at times to have everything you deserve.
There is grief here. I hope that you allow yourself to feel it. Give yourself permission to scream, to cry, to fall apart in a world that demands composure. You are allowed grief. Let it rise, let it move through you, let it settle where you feel safe.
I am sorry but I am also so deeply glad that you are here.
I am glad that you will live a life so incredibly present to yourself that you wont ever have to wonder if you truly knew who you were. I am glad that you exist in a time where chosen family will see you, hold you, and love you without question—because they, too, have walked this path (we are here, I promise). I am glad that life, in all its chaos, chose you to live this experience—one that will grant you the gift of feeling, of knowing joy in a way so many never will.
Abundance and freedom are your birthright, and you will know them.
How incredible is it that on the other side of pain, we find joy that is deeper, love that is fuller, acceptance that is truer?
A gentle reminder that existing is resistance.
Joy is resistance.
Rest is resistance.
Honoring your capacity is resistance.
We have control over being here, and existing, whether loudly or not. Thank you for being there. Thank you for continuing to be here. The world wouldn’t be the same without you.
With deep love and care,
Khumo