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The new documentary in development, The Boy from Mushin, will also reflect on your time in the UK from 2007 to present day.
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But in April 2007, I found myself in London. I'd only been there for three days, staying in a hotel. My mother said, 'you have a visa on your passport, you should go to England.' I didn't know anybody there. I had been in England once for a conference where I spoke about HIV. I was arrested based on the premise that my house was a recruiting ground for homosexuals. I'd experienced homophobic attacks before but it was three times as bad after coming out.Īt one point, my house was broken into and I was beaten for two hours. I became depressed, I lost friends, my family told me not to come to the house anymore.
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The presenter struggled to get her show back and when it did come back it was extremely censored. The presenter, Funmi Lyanda, had to remove herself from being seen as supporting me because it was getting very scary outside. The producers were told to take the show off air. Coming out on that program was like a bomb exploding. It was the only thing keeping us going because it was the only place we could find like-minded people. Many times we were beaten up at our parties by mobs but we would just go to another party the next week. When I went to my first gay party and saw these men dressed in headgear like traditional Nigerian women, I was just blown away. You have to be accepted by the Mother of the House before you can start going to gay parties. There are little families dotted around Lagos and you have to be brought in by a friend who is a member of the family. You have to come from a House, to have a Mother to attend gay parties. It's highly extravagant you have queens, beautiful men dressed up. The gay culture in Nigeria is just like being in the ballroom scene in New York. I began hanging out more and more with the underground gay culture in Nigeria.ĭescribe the gay scene in Nigeria at that time. By the time I got into university to study theater arts, my path in life was emerging. We were made to hustle, to deal drugs, to rob, and then die. We didn't know where the airport was because people like me were never meant to travel out of the country. In the slum where I grew up there were different obstacles in my way. Every hour I would drink this prayer oil to cleanse and fight the demons. I became born again, I was preaching on the buses and bible bashing. My mom was an evangelical Christian and that added a lot of questions. I was 18 when I went to my first gay party.īefore this, you fought that realization? I made friends with other boys with the same tendencies at school. In my first year of secondary school I completely fell in love with another boy, but I didn't understand what was going on. The first time I realized was my final year in primary school when I kissed a boy, my classmate. Drama and dance helped me deal with who I was. When I experienced my first depression because of my sexuality at 16, which then led me to attempt suicide, creativity was the only thing I could turn to. Being creative got me into a lot of trouble but was also my escape route.
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I was born into a mixed religion family - my mom is Christian and my dad Muslim - in a highly deprived area of Lagos. Here, Alimi talks to i-D about his life, the film, and how the LGBT community at home survives by way of extravaganzas. Now, he is subject of a new documentary by filmmaker Joe Cohen called The Boy from Mushin (currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign to complete), which charts his extraordinary life journey from Nigeria and his new life as a black, gay immigrant in Britain. Alimi sought refugee status in the UK where he has remained, gained citizenship, and become a campaigner for change in his homeland where the law has become increasingly homophobic.