Realities

The UK office has this rainbow-coloured panda, and until they started dismantling it today, a display of support resources and testimonials from LGBT+ staff attesting to the largely positive environment created in the workplace for people from minority identities.

I honestly occupy two very different realities, and it’s starting to feel odd. Hanging about in Europe, whether for work or play, for a few weeks per year, and in Africa the rest of the time. In Tanzania, much more so than in Mozambique, because of the illegality issue in the former, sexuality hangs over anyone non-straight like a blanket of fear. People invest a lot of emotional energy in hiding their true identity. For Tanzanians who don’t have the ‘out’ (no pun intended) that my privilege affords me, the internalised shame must be particularly bad. As if it wasn’t hard enough to feel at ease in a heteronormative world, without this constant fear of persecution.

In Mozambique I never really cared if, for example, a government partner found out about my sexuality. In Tanzania I am at pains to ensure no colleague does, because it could be weaponised by a few bad pennies. People believe I left a doting wife and children when I moved from Mozambique. They are not dissuaded from this view.

Anyway, props to countries with liberal laws, as they make a huge difference to people whose very existence is criminalised in others. This situation is a huge driver for my future career break, much of which I want to spend milling around in countries like Brazil, prancing about and feeling at ease.