Joel Gustave Nana Ngongang

Joël Gustave Nana Ngongang (born 1982), frequently known as Joel Nana, is a leading African LGBT human rights advocate and HIV/AIDS activist. Nana's career as an activist and journalist has spanned numerous African countries, including Nigeria and South Africa, in addition to his native Cameroon. Currently the Africa Research and Policy Associate at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission(IGLHRC), Nana also worked as a Fellow at Behind the Mask, a Johannesburg-based non-profit media organisation publishing a news website concerning gay and lesbian affairs in Africa, he has written on numerous topics in the area of African LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues and is a frequent media commentator.

The 'Yaoundé Eleven'
Following a raid on a bar in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, in 2005, eleven men were arrested and imprisoned on charges of suspected homosexuality. Nana has been particularly engaged in this issue, dedicating much of his work to publicising the plight of the arrested men. Partially as a result of his efforts, on October 10, 2006, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that the detention of the 11 Cameroonian men on the basis of their presumed sexual orientation constituted an arbitrary deprivation of liberty contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Career with African LGBT organisations
Nana's career as an LGBT human rights advocate began when he worked with a Cameroonian gay association called AGALES from 1999 until 2001. He later spent time in Nigeria, where he founded an African LGBT advocacy web site, returning to his native Cameroon in part to organise communication and assistance for the imprisoned men. In the spring of 2005, he co-founded, together with two gay activist colleagues, Alternatives-Cameroun, a Cameroon-based human rights organisation working to address homophobia and end discrimination and abuse against lesbians, gay men, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Colonialism and an African voice
Although much of his career has been spent in Cameroon, Nana's concerns extend to the whole continent of Africa. "As LGBT Africans, we feel the vestiges of the long European colonial presence in our continent," he has said. "We feel them when other -- Western, European, 'international' -- LGBT organisations speak on our behalf and we are left unheard. Only Africans can speak for Africans."

On the other hand, Nana also bristles at the oft-cited notion that homosexuality is a foreign, colonial import alien to Africa. In a recent interview with a US-based journalist, Nana noted that "Homosexuality is not a colonial heritage. The ... evil that is part of the colonial heritage is homophobia and hatred."

Nana is a frequent media commentator on LGBT and HIV/AIDS matters, appearing on media outlets ranging from Radio France Internationale (RFI) to Chicago Public Radio.

Fighting HIV/AIDS
His work in the field of HIV and AIDS has paralleled his LGBT human rights endeavours. In Cameroon, he has been active in various HIV prevention efforts targeting gay and bisexual men -- a high-risk group roundly ignored in official Cameroon government HIV prevention campaigns. Focusing on World AIDS Day -- December 1st -- Nana is currently coordinating a letter-writing campaign to the health ministries and national AIDS committees of all African countries, encouraging them not to ignore gay and bisexual men in their work.

Education and personal
Nana, who is fluent in English in addition to his native French, Banso, and Medumba, has also studied German and Estonian. Nana Holds a Bsc and is currently pursuing his MA in Politics and Governance at the University of Johannesburg.