The founder of Sierra Leone's only lesbian and gay rights organization has been brutally murdered

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday October 06, 2004 19:23 by Paul McAndrew - Indymedia Ireland paulmcandrew at vodafone dot ie

The founder of Sierra Leone's only lesbian and gay rights organization has been brutally murdered, to the shock of international human rights organizations and gay activists.

FannyAnn Eddy, 30, was found dead in the offices of the country's Lesbian and Gay Association last week. Reports suggest she had been repeatedly raped, stabbed and her neck was broken.

Police believe that she was attacked by an intruder into the offices, where she often worked late into the night.

Human rights groups are now calling for Sierra Leone's police force to find the killer, as well as communicate support for the country's lesbian and gay population.

"FannyAnn Eddy was a person of extraordinary bravery and integrity, who literally put her life on the line for human rights," Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Project at Human Rights Watch, said in a prepared statement.

"Again and again, within her country's borders and beyond, she drew attention to the harassment, discrimination and violence lesbian and gay people face in Sierra Leone," he said. "Now, she has been murdered in the offices of the organization she founded, and there is grave concern that she herself has become a victim of hatred."

Long says that the country's gay community is already underground and silent, and that this action could push them further away from the mainstream.

Eddy was one of the only visible gay activists in the country and campaigned for health rights and equality from the government. She formed the Lesbian and Gay Association in 2002 as a way of addressing the issues involving sexual minorities for the first time. She also campaigned against homophobia in her country.

"We face constant harassment and violence from neighbors and others," she told the U.N. Commission on Human Rights recently. "Their homophobic attacks go unpunished by authorities, further encouraging their discriminatory and violent treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."

British activist Peter Tatchell has also spoken of the international activist community's respect for Eddy.

"FannyAnn fought for queer human rights, despite threats and great personal danger," he said in a statement Tuesday. "Thanks to her efforts, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people in Sierra Leone have begun to achieve visibility. She helped lay the foundation for queer human rights in Sierra Leone."

FannyAnn Eddy is survived by a 10-year-old son.
Ben Townley, Gay.com U.K.