Noni Salma's guest appearances

Noni Salma

ThisisEdafeOkporo

Queer State of Mind

Adam Eli

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández

Nnenna Maloney

Eric Marcus

Edafe Okporo

Mikael Owunna

Okechukwu Nzelu

Jack Harrison-Quintana

Eli X

Sepideh Moafi

Giselle Hope

OwlTail

In 2010 Obama said “One of my favorite pieces of literature is letter from Birmingham jail, and Dr. King had to battle people counseling patience and time. And he said time is neutral and things don’t automatically get better unless people push to try to get things better. So, I don’t begrudge the LGBTQ community for pushing. There has been an issue with visibility of LGBTQ people from Nigeria, when then president Goodluck Jonathan passed the same sex marriage prohibition law in 2014 he said gay people do not exist in Nigeria. In 2020, the conversation is still ongoing do LGBTQ people exist in Nigeria? I too have been trying to answer this same question, coming out has a gay Nigerian man has made me feel like living on an island, people get confused when I say am a gay Nigeria! The fact that am gay is not even as troubling as the conception of being gay and a Nigerian. It is a strong taboo to be gay and also Nigerian, religious leaders have over used the scripture to demonize LGBTQ people as a separate people that would riot in the lake of fire. So, I set on a quest to find out if other LGBTQ Nigerians exist in the diaspora and what made them to come out and fight for the right to be themselves. I spoke with Noni Salma, who uses gender pronouns she/her an MFA candidate at the Vermont college of fine art studying writing and publishing. Interviewed was conducted at St. Mary in Harlem in January of 2020. Noni was the first self-identified Nigerian Transgender person I heard a first-person account of, who identifies as trans and Nigerian. Her interview was very emotional, she narrated her journey to the United States. Noni migrated to the United States in 2014 because home was not safe anymore and the country is just too much for her to handle, issues with family, people getting attacked and she said emotionally, there wasn’t any home for me anymore. She said she migrated to the United States so she can find her tribe. There was nobody when she started transitioning that could tell her where to go and who to go to, as a trans person in Nigeria you are at the mercy of the people. I spoke about courage and ask her do you consider yourself courageous and how do you muster the courage to be yourself in a world that constantly set to marginalize you and she said. That is just who I’m, there is not just this or that option, the other option is me back home in Nigeria, I was just punishing myself. Pre transition in Nigeria, I was just punishing myself, struggling with it every day. She made a case for her love for Nigeria and it hurts her to see that one of their own is being abandoned and pushed away. She said in her words “were not going to be a great country by we all being the same” We should acknowledge the beauty in our difference. She also said she wished people did not ask the question “why did you transitioned?” I embraced people having strong opinion about me. She read a piece of her writing and it was so heartwarming. Full conversation on the interview.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.  https://anchor.fm/app

In 2010 Obama said “One of my favorite pieces of literature is letter from Birmingham jail, and Dr. King had to battle people counseling patience and time. And he said time is neutral and things don’t automatically get better unless people push to try to get things better. So, I don’t begrudge the LGBTQ community for pushing. There has been an issue with visibility of LGBTQ people from Nigeria, when then president Goodluck Jonathan passed the same sex marriage prohibition law in 2014 he said gay people do not exist in Nigeria. In 2020, the conversation is still ongoing do LGBTQ people exist in Nigeria? I too have been trying to answer this same question, coming out has a gay Nigerian man has made me feel like living on an island, people get confused when I say am a gay Nigeria! The fact that am gay is not even as troubling as the conception of being gay and a Nigerian. It is a strong taboo to be gay and also Nigerian, religious leaders have over used the scripture to demonize LGBTQ people as a separate people that would riot in the lake of fire. So, I set on a quest to find out if other LGBTQ Nigerians exist in the diaspora and what made them to come out and fight for the right to be themselves. I spoke with Noni Salma, who uses gender pronouns she/her an MFA candidate at the Vermont college of fine art studying writing and publishing. Interviewed was conducted at St. Mary in Harlem in January of 2020. Noni was the first self-identified Nigerian Transgender person I heard a first-person account of, who identifies as trans and Nigerian. Her interview was very emotional, she narrated her journey to the United States. Noni migrated to the United States in 2014 because home was not safe anymore and the country is just too much for her to handle, issues with family, people getting attacked and she said emotionally, there wasn’t any home for me anymore. She said she migrated to the United States so she can find her tribe. There was nobody when she started transitioning that could tell her where to go and who to go to, as a trans person in Nigeria you are at the mercy of the people. I spoke about courage and ask her do you consider yourself courageous and how do you muster the courage to be yourself in a world that constantly set to marginalize you and she said. That is just who I’m, there is not just this or that option, the other option is me back home in Nigeria, I was just punishing myself. Pre transition in Nigeria, I was just punishing myself, struggling with it every day. She made a case for her love for Nigeria and it hurts her to see that one of their own is being abandoned and pushed away. She said in her words “were not going to be a great country by we all being the same” We should acknowledge the beauty in our difference. She also said she wished people did not ask the question “why did you transitioned?” I embraced people having strong opinion about me. She read a piece of her writing and it was so heartwarming. Full conversation on the interview.--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. <a href="https://anchor.fm/app" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://anchor.fm/app</a>

LGBTQ Nigerians in Disapora Oral History: Noni Salma