To sensitize Media personnel on the issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons and establish working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations, WHER conducted a To sensitize Media personnel on the issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons and establish working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations, WHER conducted a capacity building workshop on 11th – 12th November 2019. The workshop was attended by 11 media personnel and resulted in improved capacity for media personnel on issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons, established working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations and established direct contacts with mainstream media houses.

The workshop which was interactive in nature was centred on issues such as gender and sexuality reflecting on gender serotypes and the effect that it has on the LGBT community. It also reflected on issues such as rights and laws in Nigeria with the attendees educated on the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) and other laws such as the Penal and Shari’a Law. The activity had the aim of indicating how these laws violates the basic human rights of all Nigerians and also re-educate the group on their code of practice.

At the end of the activity, strategies were developed on how LGBTQ issues can best be represented in the media by using the appropriate language and also mapping out LGBTQ friendly media houses that can be approached when we need to tell our own stories and in our own voices without the fear of it being misconstrued