Bisi Alimi

Bisi Alimi (born 17 January 1975) is a Nigerian HIV and LGBT advocate who gained international attention when he became the first Nigerian to come out on television.

Alimi came out as gay on a live television show in 2004. After the broadcast he was disowned by his family and arrested. He fled Nigeria in 2007 and claimed asylum in the UK, becoming a British citizen in 2014.

Alimi launched the Bisi Alimi Foundation in 2015, supporting research to influence rights for lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Nigeria.

In a 2014 interview on CNN, Alimi summarized their experience as: "And I had to, you know, face three years' ordeal in Nigeria which was very difficult. I couldn't get a job. I left university. Nobody was going to employ me. My life was constantly in danger. I was always beaten, arrested by the police, discharged. I was living for the day until when I had the opportunity to move to the United Kingdom."

 References 

Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:LGBT rights activists
Category:Nigerian LGBT people