User:Bisi Alimi (WMLGBT)
About me
My name is Bisi Alimi and I am mostly referred to as the "Angelic Troublemaker" a name I took on when I discovered Bayard Rustin and his influence in the civil rights movement in America.
I call myself ad advocate, which is a realisation of where I am currently in my activism. Born, bred and raised in Mushin, Lagos Nigeria. I had an interesting childhood that I think influence my presentation in life. My father a Muslim was married to my mother a Christian till his death, something that hardly happen, and all through my childhood, my parents gave us the freedom to practice. I learnt the Quran and the Bible and ended up not believing in both.
As young gay man growing up in Lagos Nigeria in the 80/90, I saw the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on my community and eventually lost my best friend to AIDS. In 2004, I was also diagnosed with the virus. In 2004, after graduating from University of Lagos where I studied Theatre Arts, I had my first break as a tv actor, which led to my coming out on national television in Nigeria.
In 2007, I fled Nigeria and moved to the UK where I live with my husband and our two dogs, Benji and Coco
My work
I started out activism in my 20s, just after the death of my best friend from AIDS complication and my curiosity to find answers. My first volunteering position was with Alliance Rights Nigeria, (one of Nigeria's foremost Gay men support service), I lateer became the policy director and this gave me opprtunity to work with different government agencies in Nigeria.
In 2005, with a group of friends, I started the Independent Project that later changed to The Initiative For Equal Rights (TIERS). When I moved to the UK in 2007, I joined Naz Project London, as their Africa MSM (Men Who Have Sex With Men) sexual health project coordinator, a role I was in charge till 2010, before going back to the University of London to get my Masters in Global Governance and Public Policy.
In 2011, I worked with Michael Bell's Associate as a researcher before setting up the Bisi Alimi Consultancy (a company devoted to working with multinationals in understand the intersectionality of Race, Sexuality and Identity when it comes to migration).
In 2012, with invitation from Freie Universitat in Berlin, I became a visiting lecturer, teaching "Pre and Post Colonia sexual orientation and Gender Identity in Africa, the class was so popular, Humboldt University asked me to teach the same class. after 3 years in Berlin, I returned to London.
In 2014, I was accepted as Fellow of the Aspen Institute and same year, joined the World Bank Working Group on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and instrumental in the drafting of the World Bank Safeguarding Principle on Financing.
In 2015, I was selected into the Moth Global storytelling fellows and same year, into the Salzburg Fellows in Austria.
In 2014, I started the Bisi Alimi Foundation as a way to accelerate social acceptance for LGBTQI people in Nigeria. In 2024, I left BAF to form Vengiance Production Company, with the sole aim of telling Queer African stories. I have served on the board of many organisations including: AllOut, PrideWide, OnRecord to name a few.
My experience bridges nonprofit, national government, and intergovernmental organization LGBT+ rights advocacy, public policy, community organizing, and media engagement. I joined Wikimedia LGBT+ from the Bisi Alimi Foundation, which advocates for LGBT+ rights in Nigeria, and Vengiance Production, which creates LGBT+ films about Queer African experiences. I split time between London, UK, and Lagos, Nigeria.
Since 2025 I have been Executive director at Wikimedia LGBT+
Contact me
You can reach me at my email address at bisi
wmlgbt.org