Hamza Nasri Jridi

29 years old, queer political activist

Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms, Tunisia

In Tunisia same-sex relationships are criminalized. The penal code condemns people to three years of jail and even in some places people are banned also from their hometowns.

Being an activist in Tunisa makes you a double target, doubly at risk, because being queer is criminalized and being a political activist is criminalized. In 2020 I was arrested for three days for protesting in front of the parliament. I have been accused of damaging the car of an MP. I was released after a national and international advocacy campaign. After two months I was arrested another time for participating in a demonstration, and then months later I was condemned to three months of jail.

After being prosecuted and sentenced for three months, now I am in Stockholm living for a while and waiting for my appeal so I can go back to my country. This is what frontline defenders in Tunisia and frontline activists are facing, as the political situation in Tunisia is deteriorating, and queer people are increasingly being targeted.

Before the revolution it was worse, but after we started to make some progress in terms of human rights and LGBTQ+ rights but unfortunately Tunisia went through a coup. The President took all the power and dissolved the parliament in 2021 and after this targeting of human rights defenders has increased. I was talking to some participants here at EuroPride and it is inspiring for me to be here because I come from a background of restrictions, bans, prosecution, and here I am meeting frontline activists from all over the world who make things happen. And that is inspiring as an Arabic person, with a Muslim background, being in such context.

I always insist that I am a queer political activist because I really believe the personal is political and that civil society organizations are doing a huge work, but now is the time for queer people to invade the political scene and invade the public scene, where we are used to only seeing cisheteronormative people and cisgender males.

It is very important to be a queer political activist. From what I have seen, for example from the feminist movement in Tunisia, civil society activists have done a lot, but after you go to parliament after you propose some new laws, after defending and advocating under the parliament, huge changes can happen. That’s why we queer people need to invade parliament, invade governments, to make the real change through political institutions.

The Faces of EuroPride

Queer activists converge on Belgrade for a week of celebration.

Dafina Halili

The Faces of EuroPride

Queer activists converge on Belgrade for a week of celebration.

Dafina Halili