On this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), we rise in solidarity under the theme “The Power of Communities.” We rise not only as LGBTQI+ people, but as a collective of feminists, climate justice warriors, and dreamers of a freer, more just world.

In the face of rising hate, criminalization, and the erasure of our lives, we remind ourselves and each other that We are powerful. We are worthy. We are not alone. Our existence is resistance, and our community is our sanctuary.

As African people, we reject the false narratives that cast queerness as un-African. Our families, our cultures, and our histories are rooted in Ubuntu – I am because we are.

Before colonial borders and western religious fundamentalism divided us, our communities centered love, care, and kinship, values that are still alive in the ways we hold each other today.

To our LGBTQI+ siblings: your love matters. Your stories matter. Your lives are sacred.

To the feminist movement: we call on you to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, to confront patriarchy in all its forms including transphobia, lesbophobia, and queer erasure.

To the climate justice movement: we demand that our realities as LGBTQI+ people, our displacement, our resilience, our innovations, be seen and centered in the fight for a livable planet.

We call for a trans-movement unity. Let us build communities that heal, protect, and transform. The power of community is not just in surviving but also in reimagining and rebuilding a world where no one is left behind.

This IDAHOBIT, we choose love over fear. We choose care over control. We choose each other.

Another world is possible because we are already building it, together.

Always in Solidarity, ICA Foundation Kenya.