Paschal Raymond
Paschal was an LGBTI+ rights defender in Dar es Salaam supporting LGBTI+ community in Dar es Salaam, in the Mwananyamala, Kindoni area. One of his main areas of human rights work was helping homeless LGBTI+ people by hosting them in his own home and supporting them in solving conflicts with their estranged or homophobic families so they could reunite.
Paschal's support for homeless LGBTIQ+ and sex worker community members was especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, as virus itself and state responses to the it affected queer and sex worker communities in ways that exacerbate existing systems of classed, gendered, sexualized and racial injustice.
Paschal was hosting at least two homeless LGBTI+ people in his place the night he was killed.
Since mid-2016, the government has notably increased its repression of LGBTI rights defenders. Such defenders are therefore forced to keep a low profile and generally operate underground. Homophobia is widespread in Tanzania and same-sex relations are criminalised with a penalty of 30 years in prison if found guilty.
