The Veil of Silence: TIERs for a society against sexual discrimination (WATCH)

Veil of silence

by Akan Ido

The human rights movement in Nigeria has undergone a lot of changes in the past few decades. These can be attributed to the evolution and understanding of the language of human rights.

The codification of rights in various forms can be attributed to a better understanding of rights mainstreaming to all, irrespective of status, tribe, creed, sex, and sexuality. However, despite a concerted campaign to assert the rights for all, inequality and human rights infringement persist, which raises the question of the universality of rights to all citizens.

The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs) has produced a documentary that addresses the negative effects of the violation of human rights of sexual minorities who are forced to live closeted lives.

The Veil of Silence is a thirty minutes documentary where we hear people speak for the first time about what it means to live in a society which stigmatizes, legislates against and polices individuals based on their sexual orientation.  This documentary features sexual minorities, sexual rights activists, legal and public health experts who speak on the pernicious effect of living in a society where sexual citizenship is denied.

The primary aim of the documentary is to showcase the stories of the lives and experiences of those whose sexuality is always contested or considered wrong. With this film, we hope that we can see that those we consider sexual minorities are a part of us, they live with us, we break bread together, love together, we walk the streets together, we are all affected by the crippling corruption of our kleptocratic leaders.  We see that some of the people who are sexual minorities or fighting for the right to full sexual citizenship could be our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunties and children.

We invite you to bring your open heart and clear mind to the screening of The Veil of Silence in December 2013 as part of the International World AIDS and Human Rights Day.  This will be followed by a panel discussion: Sexual Citizenship: Violence, Stigma and Discrimination

TIERs is a non-governmental organization working for a society where human rights are guaranteed irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, through the promotion and facilitation of access to sexual health and other rights of sexual minorities.

 

– For more information, please email [email protected]

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