Today marks the official start of the beginning of Pride Month.
Pride month traces its roots in 1969 after the StoneWall Riots.
The riots, according to historical accounts, began after a police raid at StoneWall Inn, a gay bar in the Manhattan District of New York City.
The riots became the last straw for the gay liberation movement across the world.
Over the years since 1969, it has gained traction and come to symbolize that there is strength in unity and, unity of a people can bring down any system.
And while Pride month is the time to display the united front of the LGBT community, it appears to be quite the opposite in Liberia.
Over a fortnight ago, journalRAGE began running what would later turn out to be a series of stories on FHI360 following an accusation from Dominic Bropleh that his HIV status was sloppily outed by the global health organization when he volunteered to do awareness on preventing the virus.
The Liberian gay man, an employee of a so-called human rights organization and an implementing partner of FHI360, said he signed a consent form with the agreement that all messages to be used in the flyers would be run and approved by him prior to publication and distribution.
But that would never be the case.
The organization went against his espoused wishes and that of many others who are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs when it plastered its flyers across the country without taking into consideration that this is a society – although in 2023 when AI is taking over the world – that is still stuck with the beliefs and notions that one can contract HIV from doing something as trifling as eating with someone who’s HIV positive.
The 32-year old man went all out to bring the attention of FHI360 via its Technical Advisor, Cytirus Kerbay, to the calamity that had befallen him. His family had thrown him out blaming his sexuality on the contraction of the virus. Already, he had survived a poison attempt on his life by his older brother.
With a virtual wave of the hand, she ignored his attempts thrice.
What’s even heartbreaking to note is, Bropleh also reached out to those organizations, claiming to be in the interests of human rights vis-à-vis the rights of the LGBTQIA community on whose backs and sweat they earn their living, and yet they sat dumbfounded and acted as if nothing egregious had been done against a man struggling to earn his living and who is not as powerful as they are.
Realizing that they are certainly not in his interests and far from their values often displayed in the presence of donors and partners who are blinded by their gilded lenses, he reached out to his last hope – journalRAGE. An online news platform founded in June 2019 to give those at the bottom of the LGBTIAQ+ community the chance to be heard by reporting fairly, independently, unbiasedly, and to challenge and hold those accountable that claim to be serving the LGBTIAQ+ community as well as their allies.
And so Bropleh’s story, it appears, has sent jitters down the spine of leaders of LGBTQIA+ led organizations.
USAID and FHI360 have ordered an immediate investigation to unravel what went wrong and how to avert future missteps or recurrence.
This news seems not to have gone down well with many who are still wondering who is Dominic Bropleh and how did he get in touch with journalRAGE, bypassing many of the so-called human rights organizations that are clearly self-seeking, to get on a platform such as journalRAGE to amplify his cries to the rest of the world. And who are also afraid about donors’ perception about them : How are you in the interest of your people when you don’t possess the chutzpah to stand up for them?
The peak of hypocrisy.
And so they are seething while they are also plotting. Some have reached out to Bropleh asking him to rescind his story, specifically against the Technical Advisor of FHI who, as it appears, is clearly to be blamed for all that has happened and the life of its own the story has taken in the Liberian media landscape. He has reportedly been threatened that his case would amount to naught because, as they claim, FHI360 is rich.
From Royal Grand Hotel to street corners and offices in locations unknown, Bropleh has been invited by leaders of LGBTQIA+ led organizations and their underlings with the alleged tacit approval of FHI360 Liberia team to coax and coerce him to recant his story.
Unwavering he is and has been to their haughty demands and pressure that they have sought to bear and bring upon him. They fear that the investigation would unravel negligence and a very high level of corruption from bottom to top.
And so what have they done? They have started to carry on what seemed to be a series of highly planned and calculated schemes. Bropleh has been axed from his work and could potentially be fired a la his colleague who is/was the project coordinator.
They have created fake facebook accounts to spread propaganda by placing the name of the curator-in chief of journalRAGE therein that a group has sprouted from nowhere to target us.
Interestingly, the list of names on the so-called list are mostly employees of FHI360 who are not from the LGBTQ community, very homophobic outside of work, and who nobody knows to be working on issues bordering on sexual minorities and other key populations.
By placing our name, they had thought we would buy into this devilish plan by running stories to make donors and possibly the headquarters of FHI360 themselves, to wire money for safety and security. It seemed this has been the ruse to cajole and bamboozle donors most times.
But we urge donors and partners to beware of this. Going further, we call on donors and partners to carry out a forensic audit of all projects that have been implemented in the name of the LGBTQIA community. Speak to the people themselves who are purportedly beneficiaries of your largesse in the absence of these organizations and their employees to ascertain and possibly see the impact of your magnanimity, if any. The proof would be found in the pudding.
For bringing Bropleh’s story to daylight, we know we have become persona non grata in many circles. We are unmoved because this is the essence of journalism – challenging those in power, and keeping their feet to the fire by holding them accountable at all times. This is a cardinal responsibility we cherish and hold dearly, and it is one we are not going to shirk therefrom.
And so as we jumpstart and run into pride month, we call on those shepherding the LGBTIAQ+ community and this so-called to look deeply within themselves and introspect: have we failed the people we are serving?