‘Veil of Silence’: When LGBTI Nigerians spoke out

“There is nowhere on Earth where it is right not to defend human rights.”
— Trailer for “Veil of Silence”

Scene from “Veil of Silence”

Veil of Silence poster

In the latest episode of the No Strings podcasts, Nigerian filmmaker Habeeb Lawal discusses  “Veil of Silence,” his documentary that presented the voices of LGBTI Nigerians shortly before the country’s harsh anti-gay law went into effect in early 2014.

Lawal’s debut film, “Veil of Silence” was produced in cooperation with the Nigerian LGBTI rights organization The Initiative for Equal Rights, (TIERS).

The film shows a “young group of sexual minorities in Nigeria [who] defy all odds in the pursuit of happiness. In the midst of all, their strength, resilience, vulnerability is brought to fore in this informative and mind-blowing documentary,” in the director’s words. The trailer for the film is available on Vimeo and YouTube.

“Veil of Silence” director Habeeb Lawal (Photo courtesy of Habeeb Lawal)

As podcast host Mike Daemon describes it, the film shows the actual faces of gay Nigerians talking about their very own lives and what it truly means to be gay in Nigeria.

In the podcast, Daemon says, “we talk to Habeeb Lawal and relive moments from the documentary. Get behind the scenes with us here: http://nostringspodcast.com/…/veil-of-silence-is-about-hum…/”

No Strings is a Nigerian weekly LGBTIQ podcast that operates in the form of a traditional radio program; it is the first of its kind in Nigeria. It chronicles the struggles, tells the stories, captures and reports issues concerning the lives of LGBTIQ Nigerians, says Daemon. He adds that it debunks the negative ideas often put up by the Nigerian mainstream media against the LGBTIQ community in Nigeria and thus exposes truths and facts concerning the subject of homosexuality in Nigeria.

The Erasing 76 Crimes blog helps to support distribution of the No Strings podcasts.

For past and future podcasts, visit the No Strings website.

Related links:

• Directors of “Veil of Silence” and “The Abominable Crime” discuss those films in 2014 at the British Film Institute.
• Highlights from panel discussion about “Veil of Silence” presented by the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office in 2014.

This blog’s articles about previous No Strings podcasts:

• Behind the scenes: Filming a British-Nigerian gay love story (Sept. 9, 2015)
  
• Denial, prayer, fasting — growing up LGBTIQ in Nigeria (Aug. 27, 2015)
• A life in Nigeria: ‘Discovered, abandoned, depressed’ (Aug. 18, 2015)
• Podcast exposes attack on LGBTI Nigerians at hotel (Aug. 11, 2015)
• LGBTI depression — topic for latest Nigerian podcast (Aug. 1, 2015)
• Relationship problems: Topic of Nigerian LGBTIQ podcast (July 24, 2015)
• Nigeria: Why the West keeps its hands off (July 4, 2015)
• Nigerian film maker: ‘Yes! You can be an LGBTIQ Christian’ (June 22, 2015, 76crimes.com)
• Nigerian podcast: I was outed, jailed, bailed, shunned (June 15, 2015, 76crimes.com)
• Hate, gender non-conformity: Topics of Nigerian podcast (June 5, 2015, 76crimes.com)
• Nigerian podcast, website join fight against homophobia (May 22, 2015, 76crimes.com)