In an act of defiance towards her native country, Brenda Biya published a photo of herself and her partner kissing on June 30 — the last day of pride month
An anti-LGBTQ group in Cameroon filed a complaint with the public prosecutor against President Paul Biya’s daughter after she announced she was in a same-sex relationship on social media.
In Cameroon, sexual relations between people of the same sex are illegal and punishable by prison sentences ranging from six months to five years.
In an act of defiance towards her native country, Brenda Biya published a photo of herself and her partner kissing on June 30 — the last day of pride month.
The association against “the decriminalization of homosexuality”, which claims 5,000 members, lodged a complaint against her on July 9 for “promoting and inciting the practice of homosexuality.”
In the now-deleted post, Brenda Biya said: “I’m crazy about you and I want the world to know it.”
At the presidential palace, there was no reaction from the 91-year-old leader, but the media denounced the “hypocrisy” at the top of the state.
For Alice Nkom, a Cameroonian lawyer specializing in the defence of LGBTQ people, Brenda Biya “took the risk of confronting her father and her president, and broke the chains of all that”.
“It’s a question of human rights, so everyone needs to be around Brenda to amplify her message.”
Brenda Biya has since deleted the Instagram post after stating that it had “turned sour” following negative comments.
“I received a lot of negative comments… insults, a lot of criticism, but I also received a lot of support from LGBTQ communities, and from organizations or people who didn’t feel represented in Cameroon,” she said on a TikTok video.
In 2022, Human Rights Watch denounced the “violence and abuse” regularly suffered by LGBTQ people in the Central African country.
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