By Amos L. Togba
Two Liberian ladies believe to be lesbians were on Wednesday, 6 March 2024 attacked and hacked by some angry residents of 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 unmercifully 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 phone the police.
Linda and her partner fled their home and are being admitted at an unnamed clinic in the suburb of Paynesville City, nursing wounds sustained because of the flogging.
Her left eye is said to be badly affected.
They also fled Paynesville for 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 neighbouring Cote d’ Ivoire while she was sourcing funding to travel to Accra, Ghana.
She said the attack on them was a the second in a series of incidents that nearly cause 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 asked them out of the amusement center.
“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 usually bully 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 noted that it’s difficult to quit something she got into at age 16.
The attacks on Linda and her girlfriend further corroborates a 2020 U.S. State Department Human Rights report on Liberia, which among many others said that LGBTI persons in Liberia continue to come under 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.
Article 14.74, 14.79, and 50.7 of the Penal Code of 1976 consider voluntary sodomy as a first-degree misdemeanour with a penalty of up to one year imprisonment.
Liberia is yet to define its stance on the protection of the rights of its LGBT population.
