Three Nigerians, who are part of the LGBTQ community, have shared their Coming Out experience and how their loved ones received the news.
Bibi, Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim, and Biodun featured in a documentary with the loved ones who they opened up to about their sexuality.
Biodun, born male but who now identifies as a transwoman, first came out as transgender to a friend named Esco. She also appeared on the show with her brother.
Speaking, Bidoun’s brother recalled when Biodun came out as trans to him, saying: “I already knew that all you needed was love, which I gave you from back in school.
“Before you started thinking of being a trans woman, I had already been calling you ‘my daughter’. Back in school when your pronouns were still he and him, I was still calling you ‘my daughter’ and no one around us knew why I was doing that.”
Biodun’s brother added: “If being a transwoman could make her happy, then she should go ahead with it.
“So, when she came out to me, I didn’t even… I felt happy for her and I’m happy because she Coming Out to me means that I’m worthy enough for her to tell me what she feels.”
Filmmaker, Uyaiedu, said she came out to her sister, actress Nse Ikpe-Etim, and she wishes she reacted in a different way.
Speaking, Nse said when her sister came out to her, she was trying to “deal with it.”
She added: “In retrospect, I wish I had responded differently. I wish I had given her a hug and said nothing else.
“I guess maybe that, I wouldn’t have said the wrong things.”
As for Bibi, she said her brother, who she came out to, was very supportive and told her that he knew all along.
Bibi’s brother recounted the moment, saying: “I remember laughing because, for me, in my head it was like, ‘are you serious? You don’t even need to come out to me. Be with who you want to be, it’s OK, I don’t care’.”
Asked how they felt about the response they got when they came out, their answers varied.
Biodun said of her brother’s response: “I think his response was perfect because it made me feel valid.”
But Uyaiedu said Nse could have responded in a better way.
She said: “I wish that she had responded differently. I wish that even if she wasn’t sure what to do, I wish she’d asked more questions. That would have made me feel that she was interested in what I had said to her.”
Bibi said she was OK with how her brother reacted “because he was very nice”.
Watch the video below.
