“Chélé”. In Cameroon, the word designates the effeminate, the homosexual. The one we must relentlessly track down. And that we can kill without risk. “I started hearing this term from the age of 7, because I didn’t play football. I preferred hopscotch and dolls. The other boys laughed. The bravest beat me. » The beginning of the ordeal for Steve.
This 29-year-old young man, originally from Douala, lives in Bordeaux, where he arrived in 2023 after fleeing Africa to save his life. “The start of the real problems was his brother’s discovery of my relationship with a high school friend, who was the son of an imam. » His aunt, with whom he lived, asked him to leave the neighborhood, where everyone was informed and where his friend’s family threatened him with death.
“You are possessed”
“In my country,” explains Steve, “homosexuality is prohibited. The law condemns it. The population condemns it. Religious people condemn it: homosexuals are considered to be possessed by demonic spirits. Whether it is Islam or Christianity, no culture accepts it. »
New neighborhood, same scenario. “At another aunt’s house, I tried to put on a show. I said I had a girlfriend. I avoided boys. But two years later, I met Nicolas. » They begin a discreet relationship, the secret of which will not resist the inquisitive curiosity of his cousin. “She looked through my phone, found messages which she showed to my aunt. This chased me away: ”You are possessed and you are coming to contaminate my family, destroy my children”. »
“My aunt’s husband, a police commissioner, located my phone. With colleagues, they took out tires to burn the demon in me”
The love story turns into a descent into hell. “My mother found out and suffered a stroke. She died from it in 2018. My aunt’s husband, a police commissioner, located my phone. He found me. Beat me up with colleagues. Wanted to mutilate me with a knife. They took out tires to burn the demon in me, the population tried to kill me. »
He owes his life to a local mother who intervened between him and his lynchers: “We can still take him to the church and save him!” » He took the opportunity to flee, naked, in the middle of the street. “I found refuge in Kribi, in another region. But a cousin called me to let me know that I had been located again. »
He must face the facts: it is exile or the common grave. “The law does not punish those who kill homosexuals in Cameroon. On June 15, 2023, I took a flight to France with nowhere to go. »
Fate
On the plane, for the first time, destiny reaches out to him. “I was crying in my seat and my neighbor asked me what was happening to me. He made me tell him everything. He was the one who told me about the Girofard LGBT center in Bordeaux. And two days after my arrival in Paris, I left for Gironde. »
He specifies: “I did not flee poverty: I was a car rental business manager. And I lost everything. My society. My mother. And my little brother is in pre-trial detention because he is accused of having known where I was. » France granted him refugee status. Looking for a job, Steve is actively involved in Girofard and La Clé des ondes radio station on health issues, particularly towards audiences of African origin.
For young Bamoun, this Pride Month has a very special meaning: “For me, it’s new and surprising that a homosexual can stand up and say: ‘I’m not happy with the way I’m being treated’ ‘. At home, I didn’t even have the right to exist. »
