CTHULHU STUDIES
For the First Time Ever, the Colossal Squid Might Have Shown Its Secret Face

Darren Orf
Thu, 13 June 2024



Although its the largest invertebrate species in the world, scientists have never glimpsed the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in its natural habitat.

However, a non-profit ocean research team named Kolossal may have finally spotted a juvenile colossal squid as it traversed the waters around Antarctica. If true, this would be the first video of its kind.



The team captured this footage by rigging a deep-sea camera to a polar tourism vessel.

Humans spend nearly their entire lives on land, but the Earth we call home is really a water world. With 71 percent of the Earth’s surface covered by water, this expansive ecosystem has been difficult to study, and many animals of the deep ocean remain a complete mystery. One of the most spellbinding of these animals is the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni). When full-grown, this creature is about as long as a bus and weighs nearly 1,100 pounds.

Believed to live in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, this immense cephalopod—the largest invertebrate species on the planet— has never been observed in its natural habitat. Scientists only get a good look at these animals when trawlers accidentally catch them in their nets. But a new kind of oceanographic study seems to have struck gold last year when international research team and non-profit called Kolossal appeared to have stumbled across a juvenile colossal squid during one of its four trips to Antarctica from December of 2022 to March of 2023.

The team used a novel approach for imaging the ocean—outfitting a polar tourism vessel called the Ocean Endeavor with a deep-sea camera. Thankfully, the research team released the footage, which the website IFLScience promptly posted to YouTube.

“Antarctica is experiencing rapid and complex change, and it is critical to have a better understanding of these changes for the region’s ocean ecosystems,” the Kolossal team wrote in a paper detailing the method in February. “The costs and logistical challenges to operate scientific research vessels prohibits the scaling of crucial science and discovery in the region. Yet, the tourism industry in Antarctica is growing rapidly, and collaboration between tourism companies and researchers provides important access to the region.”

While leveraging tourism for marine exploration is a logistical win-win, finding verified footage of a colossal squid is as hard as ever. Even the short clip of the above specimen isn’t confirmed, as the video could be capturing an adult glass squid Galiteuthis glacialis or perhaps even a species completely unknown to science. The video is currently being peer-reviewed by experts, but it’s unlikely that scientists will ever know for sure. But because footage of any squid species in the Southern Ocean is rare, the footage is a huge victory for marine biologists studying these famously elusive animals regardless of its contents.

“The two known Cranchiidae taxa seen in the Antarctic are Galiteuthis glacialis and Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni,” Aaron Evans, who is peer reviewing the footage, told IFLScience. “The squid seen here could belong to different life stages of either of those taxa—and is an exciting example of wild cranchiid behavior, as I cannot think of existing video footage of either of those squid in their natural environment.”

Although the team’s stated goal is to capture footage of an adult colossal squid in its natural environment, according to IFLScience, the camera filmed nearly 80 species. Among them were giant volcano sponges, Antarctic sunflower stars, and many other marine invertebrates.

For now, the world’s largest invertebrate species frustratingly remains one of the animal kingdom’s largest mysteries. But as marine biologists team up with tourism vessels to explore the oceans, some of the our water planet’s biggest questions could slowly be answered.

At The Mountains of Madness (2021) 

H.P. Lovecraft feature film adaptation in full for free.

Newly discovered Amazon fish species is named after ‘The Lord of the Rings’ villain for its odd pattern

Taylor Nicioli, CNN
Thu, 13 June 2024 



Thousands of fish species — about 2,500 of them named — call the Amazon River home, but scientists estimate nearly half of the marine creatures lurking in the massive stretch of water remain undiscovered.

While studying piranhas and pacus in an effort to better assess vital fish biodiversity in the 4,000-mile-long (6,400-kilometer-long) river, an international team of researchers has found and identified a new species of pacu, a piranha relative with a plant-based diet and humanlike teeth.

Besides its odd pearly whites, the newfound species has striking orange and black markings — including a bold vertical black bar stretching across its flank — that the researchers say resemble the fiery eye symbol for the villain Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” book and film series. The marks inspired the fish’s name, Myloplus sauron, according to a study published Monday in the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.

“Me and the coauthors thought (the name) would be a nice idea — it really looks like the Sauron’s eye,” said study coauthor Victória Pereira, a graduate student in biology at the University of Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil. The researchers hoped the pop culture reference would draw attention to the fish and efforts to protect biodiversity in the Amazon, Pereira added.

The eye-catching fish is not the only animal named for Tolkien’s Dark Lord. A genus of butterflies was found in May 2023 with spots that looked like eyes on its wings, reminding researchers of the well-known symbol from the trilogy. There is also a species of tree frog, a dung beetle and a genus of dinosaurs named after the character.
The confusion around pacus

Besides Myloplus sauron, the researchers also discovered the species Myloplus aylan, which they described as having a slightly thicker black bar on its flank. The Myloplus genus falls within the Serrasalmidae fish family, which is made up of piranha and pacu species.

Because piranhas and pacus are closely related and have similar features, differentiating the species can be difficult, the authors noted in the study. Both pacu and piranha species can change appearance throughout various stages of their life, and males and females often look different from one another, also making the various species hard to tell apart, according to London’s Natural History Museum.

Myloplus sauron and Myloplus aylan have flat, blunt teeth used to chew on plants, a stark contrast with the razor-sharp teeth found in piranhas, but similar to their other pacu counterparts. While some species of piranhas are known for their carnivorous diets, all species of pacus are primarily herbivores.

Previously, these two new species were grouped in with another fish, Myloplus schomburgkii, because of the shared design of the black mark on the fish’s round body. However, through closer inspection and DNA analysis, researchers found three different species shared the eye-catching design.

Researchers hope to study Myloplus sauron and Myloplus aylan further to learn more about their evolution and relation to other species, Pereira said.

“People studying pacus have recognized for a while that there were multiple species ‘hiding in plain sight,’” said Matthew Kolmann, an assistant professor in the department of biology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, who has studied the fish. He was not involved with the new study.

“The size of the Amazon and other basins, and their inaccessibility, makes it a place of constant discovery,” Kolmann said in an email. “What this means is that it has and will continue to take generations of scientists’ effort to increase our knowledge of the area.”
Pacus’ impact on their ecosystem

Pacus are important to their ecosystem largely due to their role in spreading seeds through their diet of mostly fruit, which make them vital for the growth of rainforest trees and other plants. The fish tend to spread seeds far from their parent plants, helping to expand the forest and limit disease that easily spreads through crowded trees, Kolmann said.

By discovering and identifying the species that live in certain ecosystems, researchers will be able to better lead conservation efforts to protect animals that are endangered or at risk, Kolmann said. It is particularly important for areas such as the Amazon that are under threat from habitat destruction, he added.

“We run the very real risk of losing thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of species before we know they even exist, and by proxy, not ever understanding how these species contribute to a healthy functioning ecosystem,” Kolmann said. “Inventorying what species are found where, and when, is the first step in any future conservation effort.”

India’s top court halts release of film ‘offensive’ to Muslim women and Islam

Shahana Yasmin
Fri, 14 June 2024 

Poster for the film Hamare Baarah (Newtech Media Entertainment)

The Supreme Court of India has stayed the release of the Bollywood film Hamare Baarah saying the teaser alone contains enough content that is offensive to married Muslim women and their religion.

The top court issued the stay order on Thursday after hearing a challenge to a Bombay High Court decision permitting the film to be released on 15 June.

The counsel for the filmmakers claimed that they had cut all objectionable scenes from the teaser in keeping with the high court’s order. “We saw the teaser today morning and all scenes are there,” the top court replied.

When the counsel said the stay order would result in losses for the filmmakers, the court said, “If teaser is so offensive, then what about the whole movie? Prima facie it seems you have failed since you yourself deleted the scenes from the teaser”.

“Hamare Baarah tells the story of Manzoor Ali Khan Sanjari, who, despite losing his first wife during childbirth, continues to have more children with his second wife, now pregnant with her sixth. When doctors warn that the pregnancy risks her life, Khan refuses an abortion,” reads the film’s synopsis on Indian ticketing platform BookMyShow.

“His daughter Alfiya, determined to save her stepmother, takes her father to court to demand an abortion. The film explores whether Alfiya can convince her father and the court and questions the entrenched patriarchy in their society.”

The synopsis echoes the sectarian rhetoric that prime minister Narendra Modi, his Bharatiya Janata Party and the wider Hindu nationalist ecosystem is accused of pushing – that Muslims have far more children than Hindus and, therefore, grab a bigger share of the country’s resources and welfare benefits.

In an election campaign speech in April, Modi falsely claimed that “Muslims had the first right to the wealth of the nation” under the previous government led by the Congress party.

“This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators,” he said, warning the mostly Hindu crowd against voting for the opposition party. “Should your hardearned money be given to infiltrators?”

India’s Muslim population grew from 35.4 million in 1951 to 172 million in 2011 while the Hindu population rose from 303 million to 966 million, according to the latest census figures published in 2011.

The National Family Health Survey of 2019-21 shows that the fertility rate of Muslims has fallen more than that of Hindus. The fertility rate, the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime, dropped from 4.41 to 2.36 for Muslims between 1992 and 2021 and from 3.3 to 1.9 for Hindus.

The petition filed against Hamare Baarah in the Bombay High Court argued that the film, originally scheduled for release on 7 June, was derogatory to married Muslim women and their faith generally, and that the trailer misquoted a verse from the Quran.

It said the film’s release would violate Article 19(2) of the constitution, which allows for imposing “reasonable restrictions” in the “interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India”, as well as Article 25, which guarantees every citizen the “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion”.

The plea asked the High Court to stop the film’s release and direct the country’s film certification body to revoke its certification.

The Central Board of Film Certification, in turn, told the court it certified the film as per procedure and after some objectionable scenes were deleted.

The court initially stayed the release of the film till 14 June and directed the board to form a review committee to watch the film and provide feedback. The board asked for time to file a detailed response, which led the high court to permit the release.

The petitioner then moved the supreme court arguing that the high court had given an “unreasoned order”. They also contested the high court’s decision asking the film board to constitute a review committee on the ground that “it is an interested party”.

The Supreme Court asked the High Court to decide on the merits of the case and granted the petitioner the freedom to object to the constitution of the review committee.

The film has already been banned in Karnataka as the state’s government feared “possibilities of communal riots”.

CAMPUS GAZA PROTESTS

N.S. university approves academic amnesty for students in pro-Palestinian encampment
CBC
Fri, 14 June 2024 

The pro-Palestinian encampment on the Dalhousie University campus as seen in May. (Julie Sicot/Radio-Canada - image credit)


Dalhousie University will grant academic amnesty to students participating in the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

In a motion originally proposed by the Dalhousie Student Union, the university's senate has voted to allow students to miss one class or assessment per course to participate in activities related to the encampment until the end of August.

Students must give professors at least 24-hours notice in order to attend "the event" that does not include final exams or assessments.


Dozens of tents were erected in May on Dalhousie's Studley campus, organized by the Students for the Liberation of Palestine. The organization is a coalition of students from Dalhousie, Saint Mary's, The University of King's College and NSCAD.

Organizers and participants plan to stay on campus until the university completely divests from Israel.

Mariam Knakriah, the student union president, said in a statement that the union is "proud of our achievement in securing the passage of the academic amnesty motion through the Dalhousie Senate."

Knakriah says the union also urges the university to be more proactive in listening to what the students want.

"We urgently call on Dalhousie University to listen, engage, and act in accordance with its strategic objectives of social responsibility and community engagement," Knakriah said. "It is crucial that we address the horrible crimes that force our students to sleep outdoors under harsh conditions, and we must act swiftly and decisively."

More than 37,0000 Palestinians have been killed since October, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israel land and air attacks on Gaza followed after events on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed the Israeli border, took 250 hostages and killed around 1,200 people, according to numbers from the Israeli government.

While the Students for the Liberation of Palestine welcomed the academic amnesty on Instagram, the group also criticized the motion that limits students to only miss one class or assessment per course. Their post specified that the "academic amnesty also does not mention why the encampment is occurring."

Calls for more academic amnesty motions

The organization also calls on King's College, Saint Mary's, NSCAD and Mount Saint Vincent University to adopt academic amnesty motions.

Ajay Parasram, an associate professor at Dalhousie and part of a group of professors who have supported the students, called the university's approval a good first step.

"What all of us want more is the university to commit to divesting — boycotting and divesting," Parasram said. "That's the stuff that's going to actually make a material difference, we think, in terms of putting pressure on the Israeli government to end its genocidal activities."

Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide, saying it is attempting to protect civilians in its military operations.

Although the academic amnesty expires on Aug. 31, Students for the Liberation of Palestine vows to stay on the campus "until Dalhousie University adopts all of our demands."

These demands include the institution's complete divestment from Israel.


Pro-Palestinian encampment members reject McGill's 'laughable' latest offer

Offer is 'immaterial response' to protesters' demands, groups say

CBC
Thu, 13 June 2024 at 12:46 pm GMT-6·1-min read



Members of a pro-Palestinian encampment who have been occupying part of McGill University's downtown Montreal campus since April say the school's latest offer falls far short of what's needed to get them to leave.

Several groups involved in the encampment issued a joint statement describing the latest offer as "laughable" and an "immaterial response" to their demands.

McGill issued a new offer on Monday that included a proposal to review its investments in weapons manufacturers and grant amnesty to protesting students.

The university said it also offered to disclose more investments to include holdings below $500,000 and to support Palestinian students displaced by the war in the Gaza Strip.

Police arrest 15, use tear gas on crowd as pro-Palestinian activists occupy McGill University building

The encampment members say the administration continues to delay taking substantive action on divestment and that the university's latest offer contains no concrete plan to cut ties with Israeli institutions.

They say their demands are straightforward, beginning with the immediate reallocation of funds from investments in companies tied to Israel's military.



UK

LSE students lose first stage of legal battle over pro-Palestine encampment

Callum Parke, PA Law Reporter
Fri, 14 June 2024 at 6:53 am GMT-6·3-min read

A group of London School of Economics’ (LSE) students have lost the first stage of a legal battle over a pro-Palestine encampment set up inside a university building.

The group set up the encampment within the atrium of the ground floor of the Marshall Building in central London on May 14.

The university began legal action to remove the encampment earlier this month, seeking a court order forcing the students to disband it.

At a hearing at Central London County Court on Friday, District Judge Kevin Moses issued an interim possession order, requiring the group to leave the premises within 24 hours once the order is served.

He said: “They are aware of the difficulties they are causing the claimants. They are aware of the difficulties they are causing to other users of the premises.”

Judge Moses said that, while the students had the right to protest, “what it does not do is give parties an unfettered right to occupy other parties’ premises with a view to protesting, particularly when they are required to leave”.

The group set up the encampment after the release of the Assets in Apartheid report by the LSE Students’ Union’s Palestine Society.

The report alleges that LSE has invested £89 million in 137 companies involved in the conflict in Gaza, fossil fuels, the arms industry, or nuclear weapons production.

Dozens of students have since been sleeping at the encampment for more than a month and had vowed to remain there until LSE met a series of demands, including divestment and democratisation of the financial decision-making process.

A further hearing will be held over the encampment’s future at a later date (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

LSE previously said it would carefully consider the report and hoped for “peaceful dialogue”.

Riccardo Calzavara, representing the university in court, said the students “stormed the building” and “barricaded” themselves in the atrium last month.

He said: “They may have had permission to enter the building, as they appear to be students, but they did not have permission to enter the building in order to encamp on part of it, nor have they ever had permission to remain there.”

Mr Calzavara said in written submissions that the encampment posed an “intolerable fire risk” and caused “considerable cost, and disruption, to the claimant and other users of the Marshall Building”.

He added that LSE did not seek to evict the students because of their protest, but “because they have taken over a building of ours unlawfully”.

He also acknowledged that while there was “nothing to prevent” the students from returning to the building once the court order expired, they could not “occupy it to the exclusion of others”.

A demonstration was held outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday (Callum Parke/PA)

Daniel Grutters, representing three of the students, said members of the encampment were willing to make any necessary adjustments to the camp in response to safety concerns, “but for leaving”, and were not blocking other people from accessing the building.

He said: “This, in its essence, is an attempt by all of the defendants to educate the LSE about its implicity in what it calls crimes against humanity, genocide and apartheid.”

He continued: “To the extent that the claimant is relying on health and safety risks, the defendants are willing to comply with any and all health and safety adjustments and recommendations made.”

He added: “Seeking to remove them, only to allow them to re-enter but for spending the night, is not a decision that is maintainable.”

A further hearing in the case will be held at a later date.




Gaza campus protests: two human rights law experts write new principles for universities

David Mead, Professor of UK Human Rights Law, University of East Anglia 

and Jeff King, Professor of Law, UCL

Thu, 13 June 2024 

A student encampment in Durham. Framalicious/Shutterstock

Israel’s assault on Gaza, following Hamas’ attack in October 2023, has become the subject of international legal proceedings and mass protest. Over the past eight months, university students have set up encampments at dozens of universities in Europe and North America. In most cases, they are protesting their university’s financial ties to Israeli companies and universities.

Universities have long been considered “hotbeds” of protest. Research has found a correlation between the number of universities in an area and higher overall levels of protest activity, suggesting that they are indeed fertile ground for activism.

Free speech and academic freedom are a key part of how universities operate. But they also have to deliver education and protect students and staff from harassment. The balance can be delicate.

University leaders have struggled with how to respond to the latest round of protests. Some, like at Trinity College Dublin, have agreed to protesters’ demands to divest from Israeli companies. Protesters at the University of Cambridge agreed to move after university leaders said they would negotiate.

In May, the University of Birmingham issued a notice to quit to protesting students, indicating they had trespassed and threatening to call the police. Days later, 16 Oxford students were arrested under public order legislation after entering and seeking to occupy the vice chancellor’s office.

US universities have taken a more aggressive approach, calling for police intervention to clear encampments. More than 2,100 arrests have been made, and police have employed militarised tactics, including the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other violent techniques to break up protests.

These were unacceptably disproportionate responses to what was mostly peaceful protest. Many suppose that such scenes would not happen in the UK. But in fact, UK law gives police incredibly potent powers to deal with public protest, with recent legislation being the most extreme.

Read more: Policing bill is now law: how your right to protest has changed

The disjointed response to protest so far may owe something to the mess of complex and novel legislation and case law. The political context also raises questions about the law and policy on harassment and discrimination, especially as it relates to the question of antisemitism.

This is why we, as scholars of constitutional law and protest, have set out our views on how these protests should be handled. Both of us have worked in advisory capacity with parliamentary select committees dealing with constitutional and human rights questions. One of us (Jeff) chaired a university academic board working group on the definition of antisemitism, while David is (in his co-author’s view) the leading scholar on protest law.

We have drafted a detailed set of principles setting out what we believe are fair terms for universities and students alike. These take into account existing law and policy, and ultimately aim to prevent harmful escalation without inhibiting the freedom of peaceful assembly.
The principles

While the extended and detailed account can be read here, what follows is a high-level summary. The principles mostly detail relevant law, but in some cases also express our view of university best practice requires.

Students have the right to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and association, under Articles 10 and 11 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR). UK public universities are required to respect and secure those rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. These laws protect a freedom of peaceful protest even if it is disruptive or even offensive to some.


The freedom of expression and peaceful assembly extends to student occupations of buildings and other university spaces. This can even include lengthy ones that breach domestic law.


Calls for boycott and divestment from companies implicated in human rights abuses is a common and protected form of civil rights advocacy, and is not in itself antisemitic.


Human rights law recognises that the right to protest may be restricted where it is necessary in a democratic society. A university has rights as a landowner, and contractual obligations to maintain its core educational functions, including fulfilment of the right to education under the ECHR.


A tent encampment aimed at protesting a university’s investment programme (and which limits noise and other disruptions from unduly interrupting revision, teaching, examining and other core educational functions) would fall within the sphere of protected speech and assembly. Universities must accommodate them.


On the other hand, universities and their students are not legally required to withstand a permanent and seriously disruptive occupation that brings campus life and activities to a halt. Protests that directly obstruct teaching and examining (for example, occupying a lecture theatre in the middle of teaching) to a major extent can be subject to legitimate restriction.

Students have the right to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and association under the European convention on human rights. Joe Kuis/Shutterstock

Protesters can also, in some grave situations, be liable to criminal prosecution. For example, by using threatening or abusive language, or inciting racial or religious hatred, aggravated trespass or failure to comply with police directions.


Universities can restrict disruptive protesting to students and staff, and ask uninvited persons to leave. However, they should not exclude guests invited there for political discussion only.


The use of criminal law against students (for example, by calling the police) has grave consequences and will normally be a disproportionate act of escalation. UK statute and case law relating to the application of criminal law to public protest stands a significant chance of being found to violate the ECHR. Universities should not call the police where civil remedies (such as possession) are a suitable alternative.


Universities have a moral duty to ensure that campus is free of harassment and racism as defined under the Equality Act 2010, and that it is safe for all members of the university (and non-members legitimately present on campus).


Universities should record and investigate any complaints about harassment or discrimination arising within or from encampments. However, complaints alone are not a sound basis for policy. To amount to discrimination under equality law, complaints must be assessed and determined on an objective basis.


Protesters should recognise the role of self-restraint and self-vigilance in respect of the university’s educational mandate and duty to prevent harassment.
What we want to see

In publishing these principles, we hope to clarify a university’s powers to act, and students’ rights to protest peacefully (but disruptively) within the bounds of human rights law.

We hope universities will recognise and respect these principles. And we hope that protesters might gain a better understanding of when the law is and is not on their side – and where sympathies may fray.

But we also underline here that the law is only part of the picture. Whether or not a university can act is not the same as whether it should. Above all, it is crucial to remember that universities are unique, educational communities where political disagreement should be nourished, not quelled.

Just as we, as academics, enjoy statutory protection of our academic freedom, we should expect universities to show tolerance toward students as they navigate the sometimes treacherous foothills of participatory democracy.

This piece has been updated to say that Trinity College Dublin, not University College Dublin, agreed to protesters’ demands to divest from Israeli companies.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Jeff King has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. He is a member of University and College Union and is currently Director of Research of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

David Mead is a member of the University and College Union, and Liberty's Policy Council. He has previously received funding from the Article 11 Trust

THE GHOUL OF BAKHMUT

No, Yevgeny Prigozhin Didn’t Suddenly Come Back From the Dead

Allison Quinn
Thu, June 13, 2024 

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Nearly a year has passed since Russia’s notorious mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a fiery plane crash widely seen as a Kremlin-sanctioned hit, but “sightings” of the dead warlord keep making waves.

The latest, circulated by Wagner-linked social media channels earlier this week, centered on a blurry photograph of a middle-aged white man spotted wearing jeans and a blue button-up shirt in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where Russian mercenaries have long had a foothold.

“Witnesses inform that in Africa they supposedly saw Prigozhin! He was supposedly present to lay flowers for Dmitry Utkin,” one pro-Wagner Telegram channel declared. Attached was a 22-second video from a ceremony marking the 54th birthday of Utkin, the neo-Nazi commander from whom the group got its name who was killed alongside Prigozhin in the crash in Russia’s Tver region last August. Members of the republic’s armed forces could be seen lining up to lay flowers at a monument while a man vaguely matching Prigozhin’s description stood in the background.

“In Africa while flowers were laid [for Utkin], they noticed a person resembling Yevgeny Prigozhin,” another Wagner-linked channel claimed.

The video reignited wild rumors that the ex-convict turned mercenary boss had somehow staged his own death, with Wagner fanatics celebrating the supposed proof of life.

“Yevgeny Viktorovich, stop giving yourself away,” one commentator quipped. Another proclaimed that “Prigozhin is still alive, I’m sure of it.”

The latest supposed sighting came just a few weeks after a similar video circulated in late May, this time from the Republic of Chad, with apparently the same stocky-looking man described as possibly being Prigozhin back from the dead due to his “manner, gestures, gait and overall appearance.” Conveniently, his face is either blurred or never fully within view of the camera.

Relatives of Wagner mercenaries, likewise, have run rampant with speculation that Prigozhin is still alive in private chats. In one recent exchange in a Telegram group for Wagner families, a woman said Prigozhin’s death came after she’d prayed to God for him to be “punished” for using prison inmates as cannon fodder. But some who responded corrected her, suggesting it was unwise to believe he was really dead: “We’ll see who is right and who is not. If Prigozhin is alive or not.”

The U.S. Felon Succeeding Putin’s Notorious ‘Chef’

“I think he’s alive, it’s just a matter of time when he’ll resurface,” another woman wrote.

Russia’s handling of the investigation into the crash that killed both Prigozhin and Utkin has not helped matters. The Kremlin refused to allow an international probe into the disaster on board the Brazilian-made Embraer jet when Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority offered one last year. Vladimir Putin then claimed Russian investigators had found grenade fragments in the bodies of the dead passengers, and perhaps to further muddy the waters, lamented that toxicology tests had not been done to check those on board for the presence of drugs or alcohol.

Russian investigators have not revealed their final conclusions, if they are in fact attempting to make any. In the interim, Wagner has been able to capitalize on the mystery surrounding Prigozhin’s final moments.

And perhaps that’s the point.

“In part, there is a genuine sense of loss amongst the ‘turbo-patriots’ who hung onto Prigozhin’s coattails, and an eagerness to believe he could still be around. But there is also the cynical pursuit of clicks by outlets which monetize themselves through engagement; there is still considerable interest in everything to do with Prigozhin, amongst both those who revere and those who despise him,” said Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security issues and author of a new book about Prigozhin, Downfall, co-written with Russian-American journalist Anna Arutunyan.

“Keeping the myth alive is good business!” Galeotti told The Daily Beast.

Sean McFate, an expert on mercenaries and professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said it’s possible Prigozhin’s trolls are “spreading rumors and/or some of his mercenaries are.”

“If Prigozhin is alive, I doubt he would be hanging out in Africa. More likely on a yacht somewhere,” McFate said. “It’s hard to know for sure about Prigozhin’s death since the Kremlin prevented third parties from confirming it.”

Congress Poised to Welcome First Transgender Member. Meet Sarah McBride

Philip Elliott
Thu, 13 June 2024 

The first transgender member of Congress is likely to be Sarah McBride, who just saw her main opponent in the Democratic primary end his bid. Credit - Kent Nishimura—Getty Images

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

It’s all too easy to dismiss the political clout of LGBTQ Americans based solely on how well they have found toeholds in office. After all, just one-quarter of 1% of elected officials in the United States identify as part of the community. And that’s after so-called Rainbow Wave elections of recent cycles.

But one major glass ceiling is closer to shattering. Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride this week got a step closer to becoming the first transgender member of Congress, after Eugene Young, her most credible opponent in the September Democratic primary, ended his campaign on Wednesday. While others have until next month to jump in the race, it’s increasingly apparent that the field is clear for McBride to make history in a seat where Democrats hold a double-digit advantage in voter registration.

“I’m not running to be known for my identity,” McBride tells TIME. “I’m running to help Delaware families see results, and my record speaks for itself.”

McBride already holds the title of highest-ranking transgender elected politician in the nation as a state senator, just the latest in a C.V. full of firsts. That might make it easy to discount what appears likely to be her next history-making moment in November, as well as the political acumen that has taken her this far. Both would be a mistake. McBride was the first openly trans person to work in the White House during the Obama administration and was the first trans person to speak at a party’s nominating convention when Hillary Clinton accepted the nod in 2016. Joe Biden wrote the foreword to her 2018 memoir. McBride broke through again in 2020 as the first transgender person elected to any state’s Senate. (Danica Roem in Virginia was the first trans person elected to a state legislature with her 2017 bid for the state House of Delegates and followed last year with a state Senate win.) McBride brought together her state’s biggest labor unions and the state Chamber of Commerce to support a paid family-leave bill, and has been one of the best advocates against gun violence at the state level anywhere on the map.

And, barring some unforeseen complications heading toward Election Day in November, she stands to immediately become one of the most visible freshmen in Congress, one whose single vote will carry far more weight than most.

“Hopefully, it will help to humanize a community that has been long marginalized,” she said by phone Thursday, a day after Young's decision made her return to Washington more likely. It’s a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly in a body currently led by a Speaker who has railed against "radical gender ideology" and members like Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene, who once pointedly posted an anti-transgender sign outside her office, which sat directly across from the office of a member with a transgender child.

“[Republicans] have absolutely no policy solutions for issues that face this country, and seek to distract with manufactured culture wars,” McBride tells me. “It’s critical that we have members of the impacted community at the table.”

Lost on no one was her cash advantage. McBride ended March with $1.9 million in her campaign account, while Young had about $400,000. Labor groups, Democratic groups, and local elected leaders all piled up behind her to lend support and contacts. The LGBTQ donor network opened wide and often for her as well, no surprise given her years of working her networks and those of allies. (Young, the former director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, had the backing of Gov. John Carney and would have been the first Black person to represent Delaware in Congress.) It was also increasingly clear that, if needed, the Biden political machine could be summoned; McBride worked on the campaign of the late Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden and Joe Biden credits McBride for his evolution on LGBTQ rights.

This tracks with other LGBTQ strengths. So-called “pink money” has flowed almost exclusively to Democratic candidates for decades, and deep-pocketed donors quietly fueled races during the 1980s and 1990s, but now are among the loudest champions of pro-equality candidates. Groups like the Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign have robust political operations that, beyond endorsements and PAC donations, help bundle millions of dollars in direct giving to chosen candidates. One of the most coveted introductions in politics is a credible insider telling their like-minded friends about the campaign of an upstart like McBride or the hundreds of other LGBTQ contenders running in lesser-known races.

And while the number of LGBTQ elected officials nationwide stands at just shy of 1,300, it’s still a vast jump from where the century began. The tally, from the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s annual Out For America survey, includes 12 members of Congress, three Governors, and 62 mayors. But the figures show a pronounced lag for trans pols, which is not surprising given that the constituency inside the LGBTQ coalition often faces the steepest climbs and harshest opposition from critics. And even if she wins this fall, one trans voice among 435 voting members of the House is a step toward representation, but it’s a small one that comes late for the roughly 1.6 million Americans over the age of 13 who identify as transgender.

Delaware’s lone U.S. House seat is open because its incumbent, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, is seeking the Senate seat being vacated with the retirement of Sen. Tom Carper. Blunt Rochester, too, would make history as the first woman and first person of color to represent Delaware in the Senate. (She’s also a former Carper intern.)

Democrats are widely expected to hold both seats in a state that last elected a Republican to the House in 2008 and to the Senate in 1994. Republicans are not seriously targeting the seats and instead are trying to save their own endangered incumbents who face the tricky task of defending the narrowest House majority in the House on a ticket with former President Donald Trump as the headliner. The path to gavels in either chamber does not run through Delaware.

Oh, and for good measure, Blunt Rochester on Thursday—in an exclusive to TIME—endorsed McBride to replace her. “As Delaware’s Congresswoman, I know what it takes to deliver for our state and that Sarah will hit the ground running as our state’s lone member of the U.S. House,” Blunt Rochester plans to say in a statement later in the day.

McBride is careful not to take the news as a premature victory lap. But she is hardly ignorant of what her arrival signals to Washington and beyond. “I’m going to continue to work my heart out and take nothing for granted,” she says. Democrats are counting on that, and betting her diligence helps them hold a seat that is part of their cornerstone for a potential majority come early next year.

Trans People Are Sharing The Differences They Noticed After Transitioning, And It Proves How Much We Discriminate Based On Gender
BuzzFeed

Thu, June 13, 2024 




Recently, we asked the trans members of the BuzzFeed Community about the differences they noticed before and after transitioning. After all, trans people sometimes have a unique perspective on how society treats men, women, nonbinary, genderfluid, and non-gender-conforming people differently, having potentially had two or more gender experiences.

Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty Images

We received a ton of responses, so below are some of the most interesting and insightful ones.

Trans men who were AFAB noticed some differences in how they are perceived socially now, along with physical changes:


1.

"Four and a half years on [testosterone] here. I’ve always been boyish, so my friend group and fashion sense stayed the same. The main change I noticed was how others treated me. I get asked to help move stuff more and don’t get told to 'smile more' or get leered at by strangers, which is such a blessing I didn’t even consider.

Physically, I’m stronger, my proportions changed, and my feet grew and height increased. T didn’t make me aggressive, just very *excitable*. Overall, I am so damn happy I made the decision to transition, no matter if people have negative opinions on my identity. I am loved and cherished still, and my mental health has skyrocketed over the last four years."

—witchystar55

2.

"FTM, transitioned at 19. To be honest, I haven’t noticed that much difference in how people treat me. The biggest difference is that HRT has made my emotions a lot steadier, and I’m way more confident. It’s also weirdly difficult to cry —apparently, it has something to do with hormones changing your tear ducts."

—wes7887

3.

"I transitioned from female to male, and the biggest physical differences I've noticed are in how my body processes being cold and needing to pee. Before, when I was in either of those situations, they felt IMMEDIATE and UNBEARABLE. Being on testosterone makes them both things where I'm like, 'I should deal with that at some point,' but it doesn't need to be NOW.

Also, people like to talk about how much more rational men's clothing sizes are, but I haven't found that to be true at all. A 31-inch waist fits me very differently in different brands and even different styles in the same brand."

—anonymous

Doble-d / Getty Images

4.

"A lot of my friends have completely forgotten that I’m not a cis male and will talk/joke about certain things. And when I bring up something from my past about being raised a girl or not having a dick, they are dumbfounded, trying to rack their brain around how that’s possible, LOL."

—anonymous

5.

"Trans man here. I am honestly so shocked by how much easier life is for me now that I’m fully passing. I’m treated with so much more respect, and I no longer feel unsafe in most public areas. I don’t know if this is the same for every trans man, but I really do feel that now I am a man, the world feels structured to benefit me entirely. I’m not inherently happy about this, obviously. I’m just constantly reminded of how truly awful life can be for women."

—anonymous

6.

"I am treated completely differently [than] before my transition. To everyone, I was just one of those girls that always hung out with the boys. A major tomboy. Once I started hormones, I felt more like myself, and finally, everyone was able to start seeing who I saw all along. It was much harder before I passed. For those who don't know, 'passing' is when a trans person is seen as a cis person. Once I started passing, I was more welcome into male spaces.

Very few people at my current workplace know my trans status. I am seen as a cis male consistently for the first time in my life. It opened me up to a world of guy talk, which is wild. I honestly thought guy talk was a made-up thing in movies. But it's real, and I'm here to tell you that there are certain things men will not say in 'mixed company.' After being at my workplace for almost two years, it doesn't faze me anymore."

—anonymous

7.

"I'm over 30 and out as FtM for three years. I absolutely love that strangers are no longer asking and judging me about kids ('Do you have any/why not/when/who's gonna take care of you later?'). I also feel much more self-assured, nobody is second-guessing my technical competence (I work in IT), and as an extension, I am not second-guessing myself, either. I genuinely feel much more at ease and comfortable, and I'm happier. I also don't hesitate to speak up for either myself or others, and interestingly, I've become much less tolerant of misogyny and sexism in general."

—anonymous

8.

"This may be silly — or just plain obvious — but the men’s restroom is almost always in worse condition than the women’s restroom. I’ve seen unspeakable things stuffed in toilets, smeared on walls, and pooled at the bottom of stalls. It reminds me of that saying, 'You never know what you have until it’s gone.' I miss relatively clean public restrooms, but I am also way too dysphoric-ly stubborn to use the women's outside of absolute emergencies."

—anonymous

Alan George / Getty Images

9.

"Cis men really don't seem to wash their hands in bathrooms, at ALL."

—anonymous

10.

"I was assigned female at birth and began transitioning in my early 20s. I began 'passing' as a straight, cisgender male and noticed how I felt safe walking alone. People didn't bother me as much. I noticed that when I did group assignments, people would listen to me more and talk over me less. This all sparked a lot of feelings inside me, and it helped me work through a lot of internalized misogyny. If it hasn't already been done, someone needs to write a paper on the difference in culture between the men's and women's restrooms. The men's room is generally a mess, and eye contact or quick greetings seem forbidden. I miss the camaraderie of the women's room all the time — the sharing of tampons, a quick heads-up if the toilet paper is low, and a shoulder to cry on during a drunken meltdown. Now it's one stall that's being used by someone watching YouTube loudly on their phone and Zyn pouches lining the urinals. Love it."

—anonymous

11.

"I transitioned from female to male. There are a lot of differences, but one I did not expect is that — before I passed as a man — I would offer car rides home to strange women my age I saw walking on the road in my town, especially in the cold winter. Now that I pass as a man, I feel as though they would immediately assume I intended something bad (understandable from their position), so I just keep driving and hope they get home safe. The instant solidarity and connection I formerly experienced with women is not as readily experienced with men. I had to come out as gay to my managers at work just to get them to stop teasing me for 'flirting' with the female receptionist my age, whom I'm friends with outside of work. Literally cannot be friends with women or go out to dinner with them without everyone assuming we're a couple."

—anonymous

12.

"I'm transitioning FtM and passing most of the time. Women, when talking about reproductive issues or periods, pat my knee and say, 'You don't have to worry about that.' Doctors take me more seriously. I get fewer smiles back on the street. Uber and Lyft drivers don't try to make small talk, which I love. I still get clocked on the phone, and it's wild how condescending people are."

—anonymous

13.

"I've never experienced the men vs. women part; it's more that before I transitioned, I was catcalled a lot. [Now that I've] transitioned, I get left alone, which is lovely. The downside was I got a lot of harassment: things thrown at me by strangers in the street, threats, being filmed and harassed. I've also faced discrimination when applying for jobs."

—anonymous

14.

"I've noticed quite a few differences. As a woman, men paid unwanted attention to me. When I corrected them, they'd laugh it off claiming it was harmless. If I needed help, men would come do it for me as opposed to showing me how best to do a job, or just assisting the extra muscle I may need."

—anonymous

15.

"I am a transgender man who transitioned about 10 years ago. The first thing I noticed right away, especially being more of an opinionated 'nerd' type, is that I no longer had to bring backup to a discussion. I didn't have to google things to prove I was right about something. People just listened to me and believed me when I said things. It was a whiplash! Not that everything I say is always right, but people would actually engage with it instead of just being like, 'Oh, sweetie, you don't know what you're talking about.' Just in general, people treated me like I was another person on the same level and not in an infantilizing way.

I did mourn the loss somewhat of not being seen as a threat to women, though. I felt like I lost the ability to communicate with women my age without them being guarded or suspicious, but I don't blame them at all. I was taught to do the exact same thing."

—anonymous

16.

"FtM: Far less emotion (haven't cried in 15 years), far more body hair. :P

One thing that stands out was that when I was dining out with my ex-husband (not ex yet then, obviously), pre-transition, they would automatically give him the bill, and as soon as they clocked me as male, they asked if we wanted to split. Women are more weary of me now, I feel less comfortable complimenting both men and women for how that might come across, people don't interrupt me nearly as often now, and I feel like I'm taken more seriously, even if I'm spewing the same bullshit."

—anonymous

Thaninee / Getty Images/iStockphoto

17.

"I transitioned FtM nine years ago. One thing I will notice about the 'men vs. women' environments is that it is so much less scary in the world passing as a man. Men leave me alone or say, 'What’s up man?' whereas when I was a girl, I was terrified to walk down the street. I feel very lucky to be who I am, but I think the world has a lot to learn. Trans people are just people. That’s it."

—anonymous

18.

"I’ve applied to jobs under my dead name and birth gender and never got a call back or any kind of acknowledgment that they received it. Applied to the same jobs as my new name and current gender and moved on to the interviewing process so fast."

—anonymous

Trans women noticed a lot of the same differences, but on the other side:

19.

"I transitioned MtF. One of the biggest differences was how small I started to feel. Taking hormones, shrinking muscles, and always being scared of what people are thinking about you and how you look. I'm 6 ft., but I would feel tiny when out with people."

—anonymous

20.

"Men started opening doors for me, which I'm happy for now that I’ve lost my boy strength; I had to relearn basic tasks like opening heavy doors. Men are much more likely to help me with physically difficult things, warn me something is heavy, and unfortunately, mansplain and give unnecessary help with non-physical tasks. I’ve had a few gas station clerks ask for my number, or say I’m pretty and ask if I have a boyfriend. Ewwphoria at first. It quickly got old.

Women are much more friendly and willing to help me, like offering to stand guard while I use a public restroom that won’t lock if I do the same for her or help me push my car out of a parking space when it wouldn’t start. Now they usually make eye contact and smile as we pass each other; I didn’t realize before just how separated these two genders are in public, but now I’m finally joining the half of the population that I should have been with from the start.

Physically, the changes estrogen made to my body and mind feel absolutely wonderful. There are things I didn’t expect, like my feet shrinking and having to buy smaller shoes, and my thighs and butt getting too big even to pull my men’s pants up all the way, never mind buttoning them. I’m so glad my body odor smell changed for the better and is rarely even present; I can easily skip a shower or even two. Sunscreen is more important than ever, though, as is eating healthy if I want to feel well and stay in shape. And the loss of strength, wow…it was true what I heard about thinking you know what to expect, but being surprised when it happens; nothing could have prepared me. I struggled to enter a building a few times because opening doors isn’t even the same."

—slaughterdog

21.

"I definitely can tell I am treated like less of a person after transitioning. I am MtF, and my ideas [are ignored], but then when a male says the same thing, they listen."

—anonymous

Maskot / Getty Images/Maskot

22.

"I was a professional in the finance industry for eight years and was a senior member of my department and seen as a subject matter expert before I came out and began transitioning (MtF). My workplace was quite progressive and supportive, but when I changed my name and started using she/her pronouns, I noticed an immediate change in the way customers treated me. My expertise in my field was suddenly second-guessed or questioned where I was the authority before."

—anonymous

23.

"Interestingly, my son told me I'm a far better mom than I ever was a dad!"

—anonymous

24.

"As a trans woman, I have noticed that clothes shopping has become a lot more fun, and I am starting to notice that I am starting to be attracted to both men and women."

—anonymous

Nonbinary people had their own set of observations, as well:

25.

"I'm genderfluid and recently had top surgery. I do dress pretty femme most of the time, but the fact that everyone seems to think that I still have to cover my chest even though there are no breasts there anymore has me baffled! I literally have the same chest as a FtM person, but because I present femme, it's inappropriate. So weird!"

—chaoswitch

Jonathandowney / Getty Images

26.

"I feel infinitely better in terms of my overall wellbeing. While dysphoria often can be related to your personal feelings about your body, people often underestimate the impact of social dysphoria: the distress caused not by your body image but by being constantly misidentified in public. It was so depressing always being called 'ma’am' in public no matter how I dressed or acted. I just was never read as male until I started testosterone, and it’s really nice not having people’s incorrect assumptions thrown in my face all the time.

One BIG thing I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen discussed much is the difference in how people treat you when they view you as a gender-nonconforming man vs. a gender-nonconforming woman. Before being on testosterone, I was always read as a butch lesbian, and now I’m read as a femme man. When people thought I was a butch lesbian, I was frequently treated with hostility, but that hostility was generally less overtly threatening. While I now am the beneficiary of male privilege, I’m also physically threatened and publicly harassed a lot more for being gender-nonconforming. I would get stares and under-the-breath comments before, whereas now I get open threats, yelled slurs, and loud comments intimating a desire to commit violence far more often. While I don’t want to downplay the negative experiences people read as butch women receive, I have observed that straight men are a lot more threatened by — and feel that they have more justification for being violent toward — effeminate men (and trans women) than people they read as butch cis women."

—anonymous

27.

"I will say that one of my experiences as a mixed-race nonbinary trans man is that my treatment has gotten a lot worse than when people thought I was a woman. I am Choctaw and Iraqi, and now that I am perceived as a man, I often face an increase in racism.

Which is depressing stuff, for sure! So let me tell you about the positives.

My father accepted me immediately. After I came out as trans, he came out as bisexual. We've gone to Pride together multiple times and are able to be ourselves without fear when we're with each other.

My boyfriend and I can share a closet. I have saved so much money on my wardrobe, it's incredible. And in regards to my boyfriend, he has been sweet, compassionate, and understanding beyond belief.

When I got on testosterone, my body stopped hurting. For most of my life, I was a survivor of chronic pain and fatigue. When I got on T, both of them went away. I talked to my doctor, and we did some tests. It turns out that for most of my life, I suffered from a hormone imbalance caused by aromatase deficiency. Getting on T literally made my life easier. It also led to me getting tested and finding out that I am intersex, which is something I hold with a lot of pride. So, literally, because I am transgender and moved forward with transitioning, my physical health improved DRASTICALLY, and I learned something about myself that explained what my puberty was all about because it definitely wasn't typical.

I promise it gets better, especially if you move to a more accepting area, like I did recently. All in all, it's been a beautiful journey, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store."

—anonymous

A big thank you to our trans readers for their insightful comments! Hopefully, reading these can help other trans people to navigate their transition and find the joy they deserve on the other side. ❤️🏳️‍⚧️

Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Then check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2024.

Zachary Ares/BuzzFeed

Against the backdrop of rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment, these Nigerian fashion labels feel forced to show in private

Bolaji Akinwande, CNN
Thu, June 13, 2024 

Since its inception in 2011, Lagos Fashion Week has been a twice-yearly highlight of the African fashion calendar, a multi-day showcase attracting the continent’s top design houses, big name sponsors, as well as an international audience.

In a deeply religious and conservative Nigeria, where LGBTQ people suffer extremely high levels of homophobia, intolerance, and even violence, Lagos Fashion Week quickly established itself as an inclusive space for marginalized communities and unconventional brands to be seen and heard.

For more than a decade, Nigerian label Orange Culture has staged catwalk shows featuring male models in skirts, makeup, or wearing ribbons down the runway as a way of provoking conversations about how fashion can be used to break down gender norms. Maxivive — which describes itself as “a Lagos-based fashion organization founded… on ideas of nonconformity and the subversion of norms” — has also made waves showcasing graphic, gender-bending pieces addressing issues around sexuality and identity over consecutive seasons.

Lagos Fashion Week has been running since 2011. The above show is Cute-Saint in October 2023. - Sunday Alamba/AP


Over the past few years however, members of the LGBTQ community in Nigeria say Lagos Fashion Week’s inclusive stance has come under pressure amidst a growing culture of hostility towards non-binary and gay people in the country.

In 2014, despite widespread international condemnation, Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation — adopted the SSMPA law (Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act) which bans gay marriage, same-sex relationships and membership of gay rights groups with punishments including a prison term of up to 14 years for those convicted. Gay rights activists say these sentiments are filtering down into what was one of Nigeria’s most open-minded industries: Fashion.

Kayode Timileyin is the founder of Queercity Media and Production, one of the leading non- governmental queer organizations in Nigeria as well as being the festival manager for Lagos Pride, a week-long celebration in June to commemorate Pride month in Nigeria. “There is a history of anti-queerness when it comes to fashion week in Nigeria,” he told CNN.

Independent brand Udiahgebi like to play with gender stereotyping and androgyny in its collections. - Udiahgebi

The brand said they were received positively after showing privately away from the glare of Lagos's main Fashion Week. - Udiahgebi

Activists point to the city’s Spring-Summer 2022 showcase, featuring the late Fola Francis — the first-ever transgender person to be cast by labels to model on the city’s catwalk. Francis tragically drowned in December 2023.

While her debut was hailed as a watershed moment in both African fashion and for the queer community at large (she walked twice, for labels Cute-Saint and Fruché), it also sparked controversy. At the time, Francis said she faced a public backlash from some sections of Nigerian society and pointed out that despite her boundary-breaking appearances, no images of her were posted on Lagos Fashion Week’s social media accounts. In an interview with digital LGBTQ magazine Xtra shortly after the event in November 2022, Francis said “I heard the Lagos Fashion Week’s team decided not to post any of my pictures from the runway or include (them) in any press releases. Why am I not surprised?” (The magazine said they approached Lagos Fashion Week at the time, who did not respond to their requests for comment.)

After casting non-binary models to walk on its catwalk during the Spring-Summer 2023 shows, subversive fashion house Maxivive had its show cancelled by organizers just days before it was meant to go ahead. While brand founder Papa Oyeyemi told CNN he would prefer not to talk about the cancellation, discussion within the industry centered around the presentation having been deemed “too gay” by organizers.

A look from Weiz Dhurm Franklyn who say they use "unique cultural styles" and "daring design patterns". - Ofure Ighalo

“For the presentation to get cancelled at the last minute was very disheartening,” one non-binary model booked to walk for Maxivive told CNN (they wished to remain anonymous for their safety). “Queer people exist in Nigeria and fashion is meant to be expressive, not restrictive.”

Tosin Ogundadegbe, a Lagos-based fashion stylist known as “The Style Infidel” on social media said that the fashion industry in Nigeria still has a long way to go when it comes to inclusivity. “The traditional fashion schedule suffers from (a lack of) inclusivity on the runway — we only see representation of marginalized communities at private shows.”
Finding the freedom to be who you are

Indeed, amid what’s perceived as a growing pressure for organizers to adhere to anti-gay laws and increasingly divisive politics around gender, sexuality and inclusivity in Nigeria, an increasing number of fashion labels have chosen to show “off-schedule” via “underground” private presentations where they feel they can be more free to embody the ethos of their brands, rather than in the glare of Lagos Fashion Week.

Tzar Studios is a "visually provocative" menswear brand that has also embraced the trend to show its collections off-schedule. - Tzar Studios

From labels such as Tzar Studios, a “visually provocative contemporary menswear brand… inspired by the ethos of the metrosexual man,” to ready-to-wear brand Weiz Dhurm Franklyn, these clandestine, “invite only” shows are curated by designers who keep locations discreet and hand-pick trusted journalists, influencers, celebrities and fashion industry figures to sit in the audience.

Udiahgebi, a fashion brand known for its androgynous pieces, has successfully hosted private shows in this way. The house cast five non-binary models to walk in its first-ever runway show in 2022 to a positive reception, brand creative director Chiemerie Udiahgebi Ugwoke told CNN.

“The feedback after my show was alarmingly good,” they wrote over email. “I was not expecting positive reviews from the attendees because… I took gender-neutral clothes (featuring see-through fabrics, animal prints and cut-outs) and played with them in a way I felt was more likely to attract negative reviews considering the society we live in.”

Models walking for Maxivive during Lagos Fashion Week in October 2021. - Sunday Alamba/AP

Aso Nigeria, another androgynous and inclusive fashion label, cast Fola Francis in both its private runway show in December 2022 and a fashion advertising campaign released in February 2024. Brand founder Aanuoluwa Ajide-Daniels told CNN that including a trans woman was “essential to the idea of the brand, and something that will be seen throughout the lifespan of Aso.”

“I see fashion as art, it is meant to start a conversation and also provoke thought,” said Kayode Timileyin. “However, over the years, (Lagos) Fashion Week continues to hush down and limit these conversations.” While championing an inclusive future for the artists and fashion designers of Africa cannot solely be done behind closed doors; for now, many designers believe it is the only — and an essential — way to be able to freely express who they are.

Lagos Fashion Week did not respond to CNN’s repeated requests for comment.