My Coming Out

It hasn't always been this easy. It always made me nervous and uncomfortable. As though there was something wrong with me loving this way. When I look back I am not really sure how and when I accepted my fate and let it be. All I remember is that at some point in my life I was ashamed and scared to love a woman. As far as I can remember, I did not have much of a coming out experience for I was outed. I am not even sure what I was scared of. Moreover, allowing myself to live openly and honestly, only opened doors for me to live a fulfilled life. At least the pretense and self-denial is over. I share the part of my life I find sacred. I share what makes me, me. I share with you my experience as an out Kenyan Lesbian living far away from home. If my story does nothing else, I hope it allows you to see a glimpse of what life for some Africans in the LGBT community is like.

Keep reading.

What does it mean to be an African lesbian?

Read as Sokari Ekine profiles South African photo activist Zanele Mutholi. Read and take a look at these powerful images.

Zanele's photographic work challenges the many stereotypes of African womanhood, femininity, masculinity and victimhood often displayed by the media both on the continent and abroad. At the same time she allows herself - and us - to celebrate not just our bodies but what they do and give to us.