After the letdown that was Batta box’s Gay in Nigeria ‘documentary’, we got somewhat apprehensive about ‘well meaning’ heterosexual persons seeking to tell the stories of disenfranchised LGBT people on the continent.

They always seem to approach LGBT life with a bluntness that erases nuance and presents sexual minorities as sex-crazed or purely sexual entities rather than complex humans like every other person. ‘

This is especially bad for transgender persons who are an oppressed minority even within the LGBT community. People who are comfortable-in-skin (CIS) about their gender tend to look at transpersons as ‘confused’ or ‘abominations’, or as making everyone’s lives harder because it is a lot harder for transgender persons to pass as straight. But that’s their lives and they cannot help how they present to the world.

And then we found Pearl Of Africa, a much needed documentary web series that follows Pearl, a transwoman in Uganda, transitioning publicly and trying to balance her private life with the prejudice she faces as she seeks to live as her authentic self. You cannot help but appreciate just how much context is provided about the ostracisation that Pearl and people like her have suffered at the hands of Ugandans, especially in the media.

Pearl of Africa is being made into a full film, but for now, the webseries (which has six episodes) is a great place to start.

Knock yourself out!

Editor