Two Liberian women, believed to be lesbians, were on Wednesday, 6 March 2024, attacked and hacked by some angry residents of the SKD Boulevard Community in Oldest Congo Town, outside Monrovia, for allegedly being caught engaging in same-sex sexual intercourse.
Angry residents, mostly young people, broke into the home of Linda P. Quiah, 35, and her supposed lover, Secret James, under the cover of darkness and beat them mercilessly for being homosexual women.
Linda and Secret sustained serious bodily injuries and narrowly escaped death with the help of some community elders who threatened to call the police.
Linda and her partner fled their home and are being treated at an unnamed clinic in the suburb of Paynesville City, nursing wounds sustained from the assault.
Linda’s left eye is said to be badly affected.
They later fled Paynesville to an unknown destination for fear of their lives after receiving death threats from anonymous texters.
Linda told our reporter via phone on Monday, 11 March 2024, that her lover was compelled to leave for neighboring Côte d’Ivoire while she sought funding to travel to Accra, Ghana.
She said the attack on them was the second in a series of incidents that nearly cost them their lives.
In a sad tone, Linda recalled being attacked at a local entertainment center in Congo Town by a group of men who violently demanded they leave the venue.
“They asked us to leave because, according to them, the place is not for people like us — threatening to flog us if we refused to leave,” she explained.
Linda also disclosed being frequently bullied by her colleagues at work for being sexually and romantically attracted to other women.
She works at the National Legislature on Capitol Hill.
Her colleagues, she said, had on numerous occasions verbally insulted her for her sexual preference, and she noted that it’s difficult to quit something she became involved in at age 16.
The attacks on Linda and her girlfriend further corroborate a 2020 U.S. State Department Human Rights report on Liberia, which, among other findings, stated that LGBTI persons in Liberia continue to face threats.
The report also highlighted instances of assaults, harassment, and hate speech against LGBTI people.
Liberian law criminalizes consensual same-sex activities between consenting adults.
Articles 14.74, 14.79, and 50.7 of the Penal Code of 1976 consider voluntary sodomy a first-degree misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year imprisonment.
Liberia has yet to define its stance on protecting the rights of its LGBT population.
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