On 1 December, World AIDS day, LGBTI+ Namibians, activists and many allies gathered at the Bank Windhoek Theatre School in Windhoek for the start of the city’s annual Pride march.

Activist and sexual health advocate Aedin Mohrmann called it the “biggest pride event” to date in Namibia. The procession, held under the banner of #WeAreOne, was led by the Coded MCC Namibia bikers along with two Namibian Police Force escort cars, he said.

These were followed by a decorated float truck, a huge rainbow flag carried by community members and allies followed by a mobile HIV testing clinic from Walvis Bay Corridor Group. It was “a truly colourful and diverse group,” Mohrmann noted.

Halfway during the march, the participants stopped at the National Independence Museum of Namibia for a moment of silence in solidarity with all LGBTI+ members lost to the AIDS crisis and with fellow African LGBTI+ people that live in regions with homophobic and transphobic regimes, such as Tanzania.

It was “a truly powerful moment, as we stood in silence under the statue of Namibia’s own founding father Sam Nujoma, who himself has incited stigma, discrimination, and hate against the Namibian LGBTI+ community in the past, which still lingers today in the streets and comments sections of popular Namibian newspapers’ social media pages,” said Mohrmann. Read more via Mamba