Liberians have decided to take laws into their hands to fight against homosexuality. In Liberia, the rainbow flag, commonly the gay pride flag and LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. This flag is often destroyed where ever it is found to show that it is not welcome in the country.
Recently, another documented gender based hate crime against a lesbian woman who lives openly gay, marks a rise in the number of attacks against homosexuals in Liberia. In this new case, the woman, who has asked not be named, was allegedly attacked because her neighbors are reportedly not comfortable with her physical appearance and masculinity. She complained of how she has been shown hatred in her neighborhood:
“and they have done everything since we have been neighbors to show me how much they hate me.”
“I blocked an open space between my neighbors and myself so they can stop harassing me and polluting my porch with their dog feces. The family kept removing the barrier each night and when I tried to ask them to stop, the mother came on my porch and hit me with a stick. When I tried to turn, it was at that point a woman named Ophelia Woods grabbed my left hand and chewed part of my long finger off. I took the case to the police and following investigation, she was proven wrong and placed in jail and the case is presently in court,” said the victim.
Reports have confirmed that recently in Liberia, violence acts against members of the LGBT (Lesbians, gays, bisexual and transvestites) community goes unreported because of shame or being arrested for admitting that ‘I am gay, and so and so happened as a result.’ A couple of years ago, the brutal stoning and assault of a young man from the Camp Johnson Road community flared up tension but no one was arrested for the act. Today ‘Boo’ has to live with the multiple scars and missing teeth as a result of the frequent beatings he gets whenever ‘someone thinks I like them.’ Now Boo only comes out at night, dressed as a woman to keep away from the constant attempts many have made on his life.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alex Tyler told journalists in January 2012 that homosexuality should not be welcome in the country:
“I am a Methodist and traditionalist. I will never support a gay bill because it is damaging to the survival of the country,” he said, and was recorded as saying that any LGBT rights bill introduced in the House “will be thrown in the Du or Montserrado River.”
One of the member of LEGAL: an association that protects the rights of homosexuals in the country laments:
“When people see you looking like a man and you are a woman, or you like dressing like a woman and you are a man, they go crazy and decide in the heat of the moment to do all kinds of things to let you know they are not comfortable with the way you look. Just because a man looks like a woman and he comes in the same room with you, that does not mean he wants you and should not give you a reason to just jump up and start beating on this man.”
The LGBT community feels that there is no one to turn to when hate crimes against them continue to overwhelm their freedom to love who they want, when lawmakers who are there to protect them are implementing laws that could allow them to be murdered with impunity. And as a result, more and more victims will go unaccounted for and the crimes against them unreported.
Liberians are hardened to accept homosexuality in their country. Many of them believed the act is unholy and immoral. Some even believed it is a taboo to their tradition. Liberians have said that they will kick homosexuals out of their country if the government does not act fast.
