Cameroon: Narrow escape by a trans woman
In the dark of night, motorbike driver raised a homophobic alert: ‘He’s a f—-t, a f—-t!’
On the night of Jan. 13 to 14, in the Messamendongo district of Yaoundé, Cameroon, the life of a 22-year-old transgender woman named Elko was suddenly at risk because of her gender identity and expression. (In this article, a pseudonym is used for her safety.)
Elko, a beautiful transgender woman living in the Nsamalen district, dressed that evening in a tight black dress, a wig, and gold-colored heels. Around 8 p.m. she traveled to the Upper Messamendongo neighborhood for a date she had made on the Grindr dating app
She showed up early and decided to have a drink in a bar while waiting for her date. For nearly thirty minutes, she sat comfortably, attracting the attention of the other customers who noticed her beauty and her seductive style, observers said.
After a while, a young man entered the bar and sat down next to her. The evening went well, without stress, as they chatted and drank. They looked each other in the eyes and hugged.
After a few hours, Elko decided to end the evening and borrow a motorbike to reach the Messamendongo crossroads in order to return home from there by taxi. Elko and her date gave each other a long hug before parting. For Elko, that was arousing.
During the trip, the motorbike driver decided to carry another customer going to the same destination and Elko found herself in the middle of the two men. Then the driver suddenly felt Elko’s penis, which was still erect after the long hug.
At that moment, he stopped the motorbike and looked at Elko closely. From his viewpoint, he saw a man dressed as a woman. He shouted, “He’s a f—-t, a f—-t, a f—-t!”. In Cameroon, that outcry often serves as a call to the neighborhood’s homophobes to gather and attack the defenseless, innocent LGBTI person.
In response to the outcry, the second passenger on the motorbike advised Elko to run away to avoid a public lynching. The young transgender woman then slipped into nearby bushes in the middle of the night and managed to escape from danger.
This is just one example of the daily life of LGBTI people in Cameroon, a country where LGBTI citizens often find that freedom and safety are unattainable.
