I
Forced pregnancyI can’t work. They find fault with all my
jobs. I can’t enjoy myself.
If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t
have a child. I don’t know, maybe if I were
financially solvent I would think about it.
But living like this... I don’t want to be a
mother. I can’t be a mother.
Months ago, I was locked up in the
gendarmerie of Bata, located in front of
the Stadium; they have a prison inside.
They locked me up with a female friend,
also homosexual, and with a female
cousin. They arrested us on a sidewalk.
A private car parked in front of us and
someone in civilian clothes got out of it
saying, ‘I’ve been looking for you girls.
Get in the car, lesbians. The President of
the Republic has not signed a document
saying that you can exist in this country.’
It happened on the roundabout in Ngolo
neighbourhood.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2019 69
They cut my hair with scissors,
a pair of scissors they’d grabbed
from I don’t know where.
‘Lesbians are men. What are you
doing with your hair? Learn to be
a man,’ they taunted me, as they
cut my hair. They brought me
into a dark room. Each beating
felt like two. They decided to give
me 50 on my rear