021: Tiffany & Jake
Tiffany & Jake | The Fight for LGBTQI+ Rights, Human Rights, and Justice for All ft. Human Rights Lawyer Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
In this episode, we're joined by Nigerian human rights lawyer Jake Okechukwu Effoduh to talk about his work in the fight LGBTQI+ rights, human rights, and justice for all.
We discussed:
How Jake became passionate about human rights
His research on HIV/AIDS
His involvement with the World Economic Forum Expert Network on Human Rights
Black Lives Matter
LGBTI+ initiatives through Global Shapers
Show Notes:
About Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh is a Human Rights Lawyer and Partner at Praxis & Gnosis Law in Nigeria. He is a Social Inclusion Lead in the Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee of the Global Shapers Community and he is a Member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network on Human Rights.
Follow Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/effodu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/effoduh/
Transcript (draft)
Tiffany Yu: Hi everyone. It's Tiffany here. And you're listening to this episode of Tiffany & Yu. I have with me, Jake Okechukwu Effoduh. Jake is a Nigerian radio personality, human rights activist, and lawyer. I'm reading that off of his Wikipedia page. He has a Wikipedia page. Jake and I know that each other through the Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee, which helps oversee equity and inclusion projects through the Global Shapers, which is a community of people in their twenties and early thirties who are passionate about making an impact within their local communities. Jake is the global lead of LGBTQ+ projects. Yeah. Jake. first. How are you? And second, wanted to hear about the journey that led you to help oversee LGBTQ plus campaigns within the global shapers.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Thank you very much Tiffany. I am Very good. I feel really excited to be on your show. it's just an amazing, amazing work that you do, and I've always been fascinated by your resilience and your ideas and the, that this a lot of positive energy that you just inject into every space within the steering committee. I follow you on Instagram. I listened to your podcast. And I feel really, really connected to you, even though we haven't met. I'm really excited to be on this with you. And, yes, regarding my decision, my work within the steering committee for LGBTQ inclusion. It's part of my work and my passion as a human rights lawyer to see how I can contribute in any way or form and in any space that I belong to, to ensure that. People who need recognition and whose rights are not really respected and forced or recognized can gain recognition in any way or form. So as the global shaper, I really haven't seen much of representation within the community in terms of LGBTQ inclusion. So when I was invited to join the steering committee, I was like, Oh, fine. I think I could take on that because I've also served as a board member for a West African LGBTQ feminist fund. my work and my experience with various communities, I felt like, okay, I could bring some of that into the global shape of space. And I'm happy that some progress has been made thus far.
Tiffany Yu: I want to rewind back to earlier in the journey. I was doing a little bit of research and you were the host of a radio show. Can you tell me what the show was about.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: So I've always been a human rights activist because you always think as an activist, you're a troublemaker, but I've always been passionate about human rights from a very young age. I started doing radio when I was 17 years old. And my radio show was a local radio story in Nigeria. I had like a small recording device that I always put my battery in. And then I would just go around the city, go around villages. In schools, Moto parks. I just ask people, you know, what's going on? Like what's going on in your life. What's happening? How do you feel? And I realized that for a lot of Nigerians and I think across the world as well, human rights is deeply connected to everything that we do from our employment, our family, life, marriage, even just living in a community. Most of the tensions and issues that we face are human rights issues, inequality, or lack of record recognition, or just disenfranchisement from government. That's the record stories of individuals. And I would do a weekly show. It was a weekly radio show on the BBC immediate action. And every week there'll be a conversation maybe about education. The next week will be about healthcare and HIV and AIDS. I did a long, I think for about five or seven years, I focused mainly on public health, a lot of around HIV and sexual health. And then I graduated into a lot more broader and rights issues like education, employment, electricity, and whatnot. So I did radio all through my university, into law school, even after law school. I didn't let you, I did radio for about 12 years and I use radio as a springboard. Not only to understand what people are facing in the community, but also to bring those stories to life. And it was also a learning experience for me as well. doing radio really, really humbled me, opened my eyes. It took me to all 36 States of my country. And, I just felt happy to be a conduit for people to be able to tell their stories on radio. So that really broadened my thinking and made me deeply connected to human rights issues, beat LGBTQ rights, rights of sex workers, rights of people living with disabilities, rights of women, name it. I became really abreast and connected to these issues. And I took it up from there as a human rights lawyer afterwards.
Tiffany Yu: And you talked earlier about how representation really does matter, and the power that you had to share stories, these untold stories that need to be told, wasn't your experience with the radio show that then led to the research that you were doing around HIV and AIDS.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Absolutely. So what I started to do radio, I got employed by the BBC media action as a freelance radio presenter. And the first radio show they asked me to host was. To bring about conversations around HIV and AIDS at the time, which was in 2006, HIV was a really big conversation in Nigeria and there was a lot of stigma around it. my register was the first of its kind that would actually interview people who are living with HIV. And they will share their experiences with me because it was radio. So it was a bit protected because people can hear their voice, but they can see their faces. But what made it more unique was I would travel to various communities and meet various people. I would talk to healthcare practitioners. I would sit with them for days. Sometimes for weeks, I would just go through their lives with them. Sometimes it would be like a documentary or magazine style radio show where I wake up. With this person and we take a walk to the community center. I see where they received treatments, how they relate with their family. And I bring all that story on the radio show. So my work. Doing this for over six plus years gave me a lot of insights, gave me a lot of information. I made so many friends and I decided, look, I think this is something that needs to go beyond just radio. when I gained skills as a lawyer, I decided to do research in this area, which was easier for me because I understood a lot from the community level. And my first research actually was I conducted with sex workers, because at the time there was a high prevalence around the sexual community, but sex workers in Nigeria don't have legal protection or recognition in such a way that public health enlightenment was deficient because the law didn't recognize or protect them. It was difficult to reach out to them and it's highly prevalent around the sexist community at the time was quite high. I decided to uncover some of the human rights issues, that sex workers. Space in Nigeria. And it was quite alarming, more than 40% of sex work. As a Nigerian have faced really critical human rights abuses from killings to physical assaults, to just rape and all kinds of issues. And my argument was that if we do not recognize the rights. Of people who are sex workers, we cannot really deal with HIV. So those kinds of research work, what things that got inspired for my radio show. And even when I became a lawyer, I started to handle cases around discrimination of people based on their work employment or their sexual orientation, gender identity, or based on the fact that the law actually stigmatizes or criminalizes them.
Tiffany Yu: I've been thinking a lot about stigma. And how much of removing the stigma around different topics and issues is really rooted in giving a voice to it. So the fact that. We're not protecting the rights of sex workers is one thing, but then there are all these different layers that exist within the experience in that work that we're not shedding light on either. Because the first point of entry is already so stigmatized. Yeah. I love this journey from radio and now you're a lawyer. So I did see that you ended up taking a trip to the U S through the us state department. I'd love to hear more about what you learned through that state department trip around issues that were happening here in the U S versus in Nigeria.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Absolutely. that was in 2012 and the us state department invited me and a couple of other journalists to the U S to have this LGBT human rights tall. And what we did was really, really powerful because I think what the S department did was just to open us to. Different kinds of stories from a different part of the world that we're not really using. So it was a 10 day trip and we went to like three or four different States. We met with activists who are advancing the rights of LGBT people, but we also make the activists who are anti LGBT rights. the idea that we had around maybe the U S. Was pro gay rights was really not true. Cause then people in the U S who were actually not in support of gay rights, and there are people who are LGBTQ I, who are facing challenges in the U S as well. So it was a deeply enriching trip. It was very academic, but I collected a lot of stories. For example, I met with P flag P flag is a group of parents. Who have kids that are LGBTQ or I, and they shared their stories about how they were able to accept that children and how difficult it was. And I remember coming back to Nigeria and one of the programs I did was to look, cause I never met a parent who was accepted there. Then I durian child and I discovered that's an issue. One of the. Fundamental strengths with P flag in the U S is that parents can actually talk to other parents as well. And they realize that their kids are not a problem. They're not the only ones who have kids that are queer. so it was a really good cultural exchange, but it was such a reflexive experience that gave me an opportunity to learn so much about the U S and to also learn about the struggles that the U S had had to fight through to get to where it got to. I learned about the Stonewall riots. I learned about the communities that really, really fought in terms of activism, towards equality, justice, and equity. coming back to Nigeria, it gave me a much better idea regarding. How to go around my journalistic advocacy, but also to be able to compare stories and to see how far we are in terms of like Nigeria. For example, at the time we were really, really far behind, it was so difficult to find a president who was quite common radio and speak, not stock of finding their parents to speak to. So I was really grateful for the trip. And even to, we have two today, I still, she has stories with some of the journalists who are on that trip as well. And, the experience was really beneficial to my work.
Tiffany Yu: I'm curious for you being as visible and as vocal as you are about queer rights, LGBTQ plus rights, do you feel that stigma, or do you feel a responsibility? Like how, how are you navigating that within your local environment?
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Well, one of the things I always say is for me, I started to do human rights work. From a very young age. there will always be pushback. There will always be stigma. for me, there are a lot more people who are not supportive of my work than they are people who are supportive. So being a human rights lawyer, it's. When people tell me they want to be like me, or they want to do human rights work or do the work that I do. I'm a bit scared for them because the job doesn't pay like financially, but also you put yourself at risk, but I always say this one thing that motivates me is I would not be able to sleep at night. If I witnessed a violation of the person's rights over something that shouldn't be, if I ignore such a person or such a story of such a case, I don't know how I would be able to sleep at night. So I'd rather work with it. I'd rather be active. I'd rather be the activist, right. Because it kind of rewards me. I feel like We have to do the best that we can in every way of form on every space to see how we can change the thinking, to think, how we can change the laws, the ideas around how we treat people, how we recognize people. So of course I faced the laws of stigma. people bashing me online, people thinking all kinds of stupid things. When I do my research with sex workers, people thought maybe I was like, maybe I love to. It'd be like be with sex workers and stuff. Like people just personalize my work. but I've grown out of that. Of course, a lot of times I feel like, Oh my God, this is so risky to be doing this kinds of work. Especially with LGBTQ rights, we would feel like, Oh, you know, run by. It's still a criminal offense in Nigeria for people to engage in any form of activism in Nigeria. It's 10 years imprisonment. For me to be an activist in terms of support and LGBTQ rights. And that's ridiculous. So why would I want to keep quiet over such a ridiculous law? I'd rather speak out and work against it because it's discriminatory. it's ridiculous. But I know there are a lot of people who can't do what I do and don't have the privilege To be able to look beyond the environment that they're in to speak for something that they believe in. So I still get threats. I still get like a lot of stigma, but one thing that always motivates me is the one person that appreciates me. I mean, if there's one person who I'm doing it for somebody who recognizes that my work is valid, that's all I need. I also, I'm not doing this for any form of validation whatsoever. I'm doing it because I really believe in it. Human rights is something that I've experienced. I have seen, I know fully well that when people's rights are recognized, when people are valued and true, like they should be treated when people's identity, because I recognize the only makes everything better. It makes development community makes work better. So until I'm, when we're able to on learn the stereotypes that were built around gender, around sexual orientation, around ability until I'm, when we all learn the stereotypes, it would not be better for me, for you or for anybody else.
Tiffany Yu: there were so many parallels in there that really resonated with me, the vulnerability that it takes to put yourself out there knowing that there is eight, and the hate is pervasive and runs deep, knowing that there are people who are not going to be supportive of your work, but then fundamentally, knowing that you are helping someone be seen, and you use the word feel valued. And sometimes all it takes is that one person to see your value and to recognize and to validate it. So I want to take a break here, but when we come back, I want to chat about some more of the things that you're working on.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Great.
[break]
Tiffany Yu: And we're back from the break. This is Tiffany. You're listening to this episode of Tiffany & Yu. Our guest today is Jake Okechukwu Effoduh.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Hi, Jake. Hey,
Tiffany Yu: so before the break, we were talking with Jake about his journey. I believe it is illegal to be in a gay relationship in Nigeria. Is that correct?
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Yes, it is. It's it's punishable with 14 years imprisonment. If a person is a area like marriage, for example, but it's also in prison for up to 10 years for gay couples in Nigeria. In fact, there's some States in Nigeria where present can be stoned to death, if they are believed to be gay. So in terms of the law here, the law here is very repressive for gay people.
Tiffany Yu: and I come in to the is from a us perspective, a very Western perspective, of course. And I found that to be really shocking. I've been thinking about this whole idea about being your true, authentic self. And in some countries you just can't. because it's illegal. And Jake has been doing a lot of work around being a voice and elevating these stories in a place where it's very stigmatized. I also saw that you were on world economic forum, expert network for human rights. can you talk about what that network is working on or what are some of the things that you're bringing into that you're hoping to work on?
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Yes, economic forum expert network is a collective of people who are in quote experts in their various fields. And one of them is for human rights. Now it's a really powerful network because there you find like the world renowned. Activists academics professionals who work in the field of human rights. I am really honored to be on that network because I'm not as highly profiled as the other people on there. so it's an honor for me to be, yeah.
Tiffany Yu: And that's just. None of that.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: At least I recognize that. even though I'm not very established, I mean, on that network, that's dead people like Philip Austan, people who have published books and books on human rights for like decades. I come in like someone who has like underground knowledge. so my expertise is pretty much grassroots. but I'm also trying to be more academic as the years go by. something that is really important about human rights is the fact that, while some people can actually celebrate being queer in some other countries, they're dealing with. Laws and criminalization. this definitely is not removed from the colonial history that a lot of African countries for example, have faced, Before we were colonized Gabe, we were not criminalized in Nigeria, gave him away integrated just like any other person would be. We lived in a very diverse multicultural, multiethnic kind of societies, but certainly laws came in with the British colonial rule and it's now difficult for some States to retreat or go back from those laws. Oh, we can't remove this. I mean, this is also connected to patriarchy and the misogynistic nature that societies have been grown to be. one of the things I kind of push for when it comes to human rights work is to ensure that I interview, for example, as a journalist, I w. Women just as much as I interview men, even though you don't have a lot of women holding key positions. And, in every single space at every single time. There's always a human rights issue. I always know that there's no space. You go to that. You will not find a human rights intervention. Right there, beat climate change, big politics, beat fashion. You notice that there's something missing somewhere because of this way, the system operates because of the capitalistic nature and the patriarchal nature that we live and engaging. So, I have that sense of thinking in every space that I belong to. even if it has progressive as the global shapers community or not as progressive in my community that I live in, I always think, who needs to be in this space that is not here, who has been criminalized, that shouldn't be, who am I speaking to that I could speak to? If it wasn't for the system that we live in. So these questions are questions. I ask myself as a lawyer, as a journalist and, and those are the things that bring what I, as an expert network. What I did was community, or just a space that I work on even.
Tiffany Yu: it sounds like on the one hand, you're a part of this network where you are also learning, but you're bringing into it a lot of grassroots expertise and also taking a critical lens at who is missing from the table.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: now, when we talk about the global frame of human rights. A lot of people think that human rights is this. Ethnocentric, first of all, world idea, but it really isn't . If humans, the universal principle, if it's fundamental. Yeah. If it's as universal, as international, as we say it is, there are third world perspectives to human rights that people in the West do not understand. the idea of people being two-spirited or the idea of. Land, for example, not just being a property that one president can own. These are ideas around human rights, but they're from a third world perspective. So even when I'm in that global space, so that is a national network. I find that people think that the Western ideal for a particular type of rights or notion is something that other States need to patch up to. Meanwhile, that's not the case. I think it's, it's meant to be an exchange when it comes to LGBTQ rights. For example, even though Africa or a lot of African States are not as progressive, the reason is not that they're falling behind your business because they were colonized to be that way. But even though we're still way, way, way backwards with LGBTQ rights, they are. Oh, the types of rights that I think the West can learn from a third world perspective, issues around solidarity rights or communitarian rights, the right to peace development, even right to the land. So when we talk about human rights, it's something that It's ongoing and it's very reflexive for both the West, the East, the North and the South. So in that network, that expat network, I try to bring some of the perspectives from a third world perspective. And I hope that by that engagement, I'm learning and people are learning from me as well.
Tiffany Yu: here in the U S over the past, Month we've seen an emergence of black lives matter . And I'm curious if you have been following and what you feel like the sentiment is where you are with regard to black lives matter.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Absolutely. The whole world, especially as an African, of course we feel it when a black person is March, we said in the us. We can relate to it because we know that if, then we find ourselves in the U S that could be us. Now, judge Floyd, for example, was killed. Not just because he's African American. I do think the American side of him is in contest, John, but it's the African side of him that I feel is it has a big problem. And that's the same identity that I share as an African. So a lot of Africans could relate to it. In fact, some Africans actually did protest or contributed to the black lives matter movement. of course I'm not saying being an African and being an African American is the same thing. some Africans here don't have to deal with some of the issues black Americans face, but that movement is the global one. Because as an African, we also experienced discrimination in the same way, even if we're not even living in the U S when non Africans come to our countries or come to our spaces, we still feel the same level of discrimination or the underhandedness, even when we're in majority, in terms of number. when it comes to the black lives matter movement, there's a form of solidarity that we share, even though we're not living in the U S even though we did not experience the same thing, John flood and other people have experienced. I do think this is also a restaurant that offers Africans. I feel like anybody who is passionate or who recognizes justice, equity equality should actually feel that they can next to the black lives matter movement. And for me, I learn every day, I used to be very racially blind until like my late twenties when I went abroad. And I was like, Oh, that's interesting me that way. And they're like, cause you're black. I was like, I'm black. I didn't know. I was like black, Africans. We don't really. The term black is not something that's not the first thing that comes to our mind is the first thing that other people see when they look at us like, Hey, you're black. But for we as Africans, we're like we're coming from a country where, for example, in Nigeria, 99% of people here are black. So since the person is black, like maybe you mean complexion. So to go abroad for the first time and then to have this identity of blackness and to be treated just because of the way I look or my race. Was like, wow. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. It was very racially blind. I didn't believe the person would treat me differently because of my race. maybe a black American would be. A lot more knowledgeable because they've grown and lived in that system. I have a lived in that system. that was a bit new to me. I kind of joined the party really late, but , barely the never, and I, and I picked up on some of these conversations. I see value for racial equity and I was talking to a black American friend and he was like, well, just sharing our differences and similarities. And I was telling him, look in my country, the newscasters are black. The richest black person in the world is Nigeria. And I'm like, my teachers from university are all black. it will be difficult for someone to make me feel less of who I am because of my color of my skin or my race. But for him, he was like, Oh, that's different. Most are the people who are like pioneers and , people on TV, celebrities, but mostly white. even as a kid, he felt a sense of. Like his self walked wasn't really there. And so you see, and then we compare, but we all agree that if I show up in the U S for example, they don't care if I'm Nigerian, I'm black, or if I'm Africa black, I'm just black. So I could be judged Floyd. I could be the next judge Floyd. I'm happy that a lot of conversation around the black lives matter movement, I'm happy to, it's become an international movement and everyone is connecting to it in any way or form. And I've also seen you. Make very, very solid connections, very profound connections with the work you do around the disability space and when it comes to race as well. So when we talk about the intersectionality of how human beings experience discrimination, we, those are the kinds of conversations that we need to have because people are not as black. Yes or differently abled people have their race. people are Asian Americans, people are African American Indian there's a lot that we need to understand that as human beings, we are all uniquely equal, but we experience things differently. And I think that's what the black lives matter movement is about. And that's why I deeply connect to it.
Tiffany Yu: And with your work in human rights and LGBT issues, it would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge intersectionality. And I loved hearing your journey around your sense of identity around blackness. Because if you're going out the street, they don't know you're this kick ass human rights lawyer. All they see is a black man. but how can we take the time to slow down that fight or flight response or whatever it is in the first place to then say, Ooh, why am I feeling this discomfort around this person? and all of that of course is tied into human rights and. I have even seen we over the past couple of years here in the U S we've had a disability pride parade, different from LGBT pride parade, disability pride. And a lot of people will carry around signs that say disability rights are human rights. And oftentimes for my disability identity, I don't really see it that well represented in human rights or civil rights spaces. I love the work that you do in terms of thinking about representation. wanted to take it back to the equity thing, inclusion steering committee. So our term ends in 2021. And I have seen you run some really incredible and impactful campaigns around LGBT issues. So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind chatting about the, both the one you did during pride. And then there was one that was done during an international day.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Yes. the first international campaign I did was on May 17th, which is the Idaho international day against homophobia, BI phobia, transphobia, intersex phobia. for me, that was actually, I've never really recognized that day as I did this time around as much as I did this time around because that when COVID-19 hit, it did hit the LGBTQ community really hard. a lot of queer people who don't live with their families, how to self isolate with families that don't accept them. The level of depressions skyrockets the challenges within the community, especially trans individuals was heightened by COVID-19. a few weeks before may seventies, I got news that a friend of mine had committed suicide. Um, you know, I left a note about you, like. Being queer and just not being able to survive the pandemic, he didn't even have COVID. He died due to the frustrations. And I mean, he committed suicide. I was like, Whoa, I hope it this time around is really important. We need to see how we can tackle homophobia BI phobia. And I wrote an article for May 17th. it didn't get public but I was like, okay, it's fine. The next month is pride. Now for the first time, a lot of people are not going to be able to celebrate pride because they can't go out and do it pride parade one event. So everyone would do pride in their houses. And I thought the global shapers community haven't existed for over nine years has never celebrate that pride. And I was like, that's a problem. If we are a global community in like hundreds of countries, we must have grabbed people. That don't connect to engage one another. So as the LGBTQ socially inclusion lead, I thought, okay, this is actually really important time to celebrate pride because love gave you pool and queer people are really huge challenges. So why don't we actually take, turn around and recognize and celebrate pride in this time of COVID. we thought of a new idea. We came up with the idea of ship pride to do a shape events. Cause we use shape a lot. Within the community. Why don't we do, why do we ship pride? Why don't we rethink what pride means? it doesn't have, it's not, I think it's an, it's a festivity. it's a celebration. Yes. There's all that. But pride is also a recognition that every human being matters. Yeah. It doesn't matter who they are, where they're from, who they love or how they look like. It doesn't matter what orientation that they relate to or how they identify. We can actually celebrate pride for the first time within our community and show people that pride is much more than a physical event. And that's how the conversation started. I created a group of other Global shippers who are allies or belong to the LGBTQ community. I started to draft out what the events would look like. To be honest, it took a lot of my time fixed guns you have on there, but I'm happy with the background that I've always had in terms of activism. I don't give up until I see something happen, but one thing for me, people thought it was just the, I didn't really care about the event. What I cared about was the mobilization. I cared about the engagement and the solidarity, which was happening for the first time, LGBTQ global shapers and their allies were communicating and talking on this group on WhatsApp and they were sharing the ideas. They were recognizing that they matter, they felt included. They felt loved. They felt identified. And for me, that was success for me, even just being in that group, engaging, learning, reading, sharing. Meant a lot to me, for example, Tiffany, when I shared a particular post on the group and you commented and you said, thumbs up, objective, the great idea prize is amazing. Go for it. Wow. That meant the world to me. You get what I mean? So sometimes it's not just the activity itself, it's the engagement around it. It's the support around it. That meant so much. And, I'm happy that event was a success. We had who is an international trans model and activist and advocate as well. She was the keynote speaker. We had young global leaders, Corey Blacktown. And the reason they do who she had the experience, for example, Corey is a mom of two. She has two daughters. One is by eye, one is trans. she shared what it means, to be an ally as a mother of a trans daughter. she shared the experience At the event, it was so empowering and everyone was like, wow, this is amazing. there are different ways that we can engage. You don't have to be LGBTQ or I, you don't have to understand what it means to be queer, but you can be an ally. And there are various ways to be an ally. For example, this conversation that we're having, it's a fantastic way to be an ally. You can support, you can be a dissonant ear. Like there's just so many ways. And that was what pride was all about.
Tiffany Yu: the mobilization part was really powerful because this wasn't the Jake show. You happen to be the lead of mobilizing. A lot of other people who were excited about. Getting involved with this. so congratulations more to come. we it's about celebrating pride, but I do want to acknowledge that pride did start as a riot. Identifying as queer is a political act and this year in the U S we recognized commemorated 50 years. I wanted to hear from you, on the celebration side, what is giving you hope in terms of the LGBT movement and where do you think the biggest opportunity for growth is in the future?
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: I just say very well that even though people in the U S feel like there's a lot of inequality, which is true, but the U S gives the world a lot of hope. when the Supreme court judgments recognize marriage equality in all of the States, I was like, what? I've never imagined in my mind that, that would be. A nationwide recognition for marriage, marriage, equity, and equality. even if it's not like, just imagine the stark difference. In my country, people get jailed for getting married to people that they love in another country it's been celebrated that shows you the impact, the value. Of what that means for some people that are like, Oh, well that's fine. two women can get married now, but it's not just fine. It's a big deal. Yeah. That's what the movement has always been about. Pride. As of it's been a push and a riot to see that people. Can actually just enjoy the basic rights that they deserve. So a couple of weeks ago, when I read a news article from the U S about a Supreme court judgment, that recognizes that you can't fire someone because they are trans cause they're gay. I was like, this is progression. This gives me hope. This gives me hope that maybe not in my generation, maybe not in my time, but if this can happen in the U S maybe it can happen somewhere else. Maybe it can happen here. Maybe it can happen in my lifetime. I don't know, but that gives me a lot of hope, in terms of where they can be growth, there's still a lot to do. One of the things that not many people realize there's really not many global shapers realized is that it was really difficult for me to work on shape pride, being in Nigeria and coming from Nigeria, it was a risk for me to even float such an event. but for someone in San Francisco is like, Oh my God, that's fine. I can do like, I couldn't, I have to rethink, how do I ensure that I'm safe? What if, like, I'm just thinking so many things, so I feel like there's a need for solidarity. I feel that the engagement that you and I having from San Francisco to Abuja Nigeria, we need to have a lot more of that. My reason why I say this is we might not be able to change the entire world, but we can change. We can change the global shapers community. We can change that little WhatsApp group that we engage in as it there's need for solidarity support beyond lines and boundaries of nations. And American, if you is an African issue and is an issue is a black issue. We must holistically engage race to be holistic. so. I feel like the, the work that needs to be done is to ensure that there's a lot more globalized views around the work that we do, but we need that solidarity in terms of support in general, supporting one another irrespective of where we are, where we leave, what time zone we are in or what language that we speak. that will be my view.
Tiffany Yu: That's a great, powerful message. if people want to support you. Where can they do that or elevate your work or be a better ally?
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: it doesn't have to be to me or through me. If a person wants to be an ally, but doesn't wants to support. There are a million ways that they can, can I always say start from yours circle. If you don't know anyone who is living with a disability, or you don't know anyone who's queer, then maybe you are a problem because there are millions of people who are. Differently able, there are millions of people who are queer and if you don't know them, it means you don't see them. So start from your family. Start from your organization, start from your group of friends. And begin to see who can I engage with? How can I make more people feel included? How can people have equitable distribution of opportunities, of information, of wealth of resources? And if we do it that way, it just gets better from the ground up. So, that's what I can say. Of course, I know there are many ways that we can like support my work and my advocacy, but it has to start at home anywhere that we are any space that we belong to. We have to inject our passion, inject our willingness to change in those spaces.
Tiffany Yu: one thing I heard around allyship is around curating your inputs. So that means whatever social media channel you're on, go follow a disabled person, go follow a queer person. I'm wondering if there are one or two accounts that you think are really great to follow.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: yes, there are. I can think of some of my head like we have as one call is Dao is that is a UN the West African initiative is the first of its kind, the West African human rights fund that showcases LGBTQ work in West Africa. Now that's very unique and very rare because things are really difficult here. So is Dao is one of them, but just like you said, sometimes I posted queer related things on my Instagram or my social media feed. And I share some of these things as well. So I like what you said about curating your own personal space, being deliberate about following diversity and doing that deliberately. Something that I also, I also agree with,
Tiffany Yu: one thing I've appreciated about doing this podcast is getting to have really candid conversations with people like you and I really admire your leadership. I would call you a conductor, you're navigating again, this mobilization piece, like orchestrating all of the things in the background so that we can make sure that people's stories and people's voices are heard, who historically and systemically haven't been able to be seen and be valued in that way.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Absolutely. I see your work and it empowers me. I feel very motivated when I see the work that you do. I think for me, the oil and the well that I need is like the thumbs up from you. The interviews, go ahead. That those things matter to me, they might say they mean the world to me. So me being on your podcast is such an honor. I am really grateful for it. And you're somebody that I really look up to and I really admire the work that you do. I don't know where you get the strength and the resilience. there are people out there who are doing a lot for their communities and they're doing it beyond the spaces that they're in. So you're in San Francisco there, but you're impacting other people's lives in other parts of the world. And that, for me, that is exactly the kind of learning I need to get. That's the kind of motivation that I need. So thank you so much for that.
Tiffany Yu: I have the biggest smile on my face right now. So we have an eight or nine hour time difference between me here in San Francisco. You you're in a Buddha.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Yes.
Tiffany Yu: Your day is closing. My day's just starting. I'm so grateful. I got to start the day by chatting with you, Jake. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh: Thank you so much for closing my day beautifully.