"In Memoriam - Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé..."

Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé

1979 - 2014

Pictured above is Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé, 34 who died in Cameroon on Friday, January 10th.  In March of 2011, he was arrested and jailed for the act he is committing in the above photo.  He texted "I'm very much in love w/u" to another man and for that "heinous act," he was sentenced to three years in jail under a Cameroonian law that imposes up to five years in prison for homosexual acts.

A friend said of him, "Roger was a courageous man who became an accidental activist after he was arrested simply for expressing his love for another man."  Although Roger had been temporarily released from prison to seek medical treatment, his family removed him from hospital.  His family reportedly said he was a curse for them and that we should let him die.  There are no reports yet on the cause of his death, but GLBT activists are calling for an investigation.

He was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International following his incarceration.

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As we in the developed world stand up in righteous indignation over Russia's anti-gay stance, I often wonder where are our cries for the freedom of our brothers in lands where they suffer far worse fates than "don't say gay."  Is our racist ethnocentrism so pervasive that we simply don't care? "How can we stand up for the oppressed in one nation and not for all...?" Why is our shrill cry heard so loudly around the world when the oppressed have white skin, but then we allow ourselves to be so blissfully ignorant of and silent to the pleadings of millions of our very own GLBT brothers and sisters in other nations and other lands?

Roger gave everything for love... And so I mourn the tragedy of his passing and moreover I stand with him and for him, that his "accidental activism" might not have been in vain... Our stories must be told, people must know who we are, wherever we are... for only then can we free ourselves from fear and hatred and acknowledge with one voice that "Love is the supreme law of every land, every nation, and every people.

"Fear Eats the Soul"