Queer Isn't All I am

The Esports Story by Akorpha7

My name Irrelevant, my story important.

I am a writer, an athlete, an instructor, sometimes a composer, a gamer, an activist, a pacesetter and I am queer. I play a lot of sports and games and I walk, sing or sleep in my spare time. I am part of the initial group of persons to form an all-female esports team, The Queen’s Yag and I have brought so much to the table since then. I have recruited some great lady gamers who went on to find success in the esports community.

I have an esports dream SafespaceGH that continues to organize safe gaming events for queer women especially. I write for Goats and Pros and try to shed light on some queer struggles in my country of origin, Ghana. I have lived my whole life in fear. Fear of accepting who I am, fear I might be shunned by society for being different. Fear I might be alone in my troubles. Fear I can’t ever trust anyone not queer with my life and I can’t keep letting that fear eat at my soul.

Today I decide to control the narrative, to let you know I am queer, but I am so much more.

Who I decide to love doesn’t negate all the good I’ve done neither does it mean I am the same as the next person who decides to be bad. Yes, there have been some narratives in the news since the commencement of the Anti-LGBT bill deliberations about how some queer persons abuse their power and molest children among others, but those people aren’t a description of who the queer community is. Just like how straight people have people who decide to be terrible people, not everyone is that inhumane. We, the majority, care and are loving people once you get to know us and try to understand and tolerate us.

I have been blessed to know many queer women in gaming who do more and are more than just the queer tag. I would like to share some stories with the hope that Ghanaians especially the people deciding our fates see that we are people, we matter, we make so much difference despite our bedroom decisions. If the focus is put into making our country great, seeing and addressing the real problems in the country such as the bad roads, the corruption, the joblessness, and the poverty margin, instead of persecuting us, we can be a nation worth talking about. My hope is that this article makes a splash in ensuring our safety and that of those who will come after us. Allow me to introduce you to some people who are willing to share their stories despite what it might mean for them. See how scared you make them and please be considerate.

Her name, Rita-Lucia, her story Fearless.

She is a queer content creator from Ghana and Nigeria who creates content on Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. She loves gaming, sleeping, reading books, traveling, going on adventures and doesn’t hide her love for food. Video games are a way she connects with her brother and her mom who used to play with them. She recounts the memories of her first Nintendo Wii, her late mom got for her at a young age and that sparked her interest in video games. She used to play a lot until she started having issues with her identity while in high school, about not being girly enough because video games were seen then as a man thing. After high school during her gap year, she started gaming again and developed an interest in playing as well as streaming her game plays in Apex, Uncharted and Valorant, as well as any game she got the chance to play. Her first stream was in 2020, after her mom, her biggest advocate, passed away. She’s currently not signed to any esports team and hopes to get signed by one of her sentinels, TSM among others. She describes her journey as a solo athlete as not too easy, but finding communities that identify the same as her, that share some similarities like being queer, black, women and love to game too. She is able to integrate into groups like these because they are all alike and share the same struggles and this has made her esports journey a lot easier. Since joining the esports community, she has created a safe space for women who game to be themselves in Rita’s chat on Twitch. She has also organized a gaming event at Arena233, a gaming hub with registration consisting of both local and international athletes and believes this to be her biggest impact as she continues to shed light on her channel, about how gaming isn’t just a man’s thing. A stereotype she has heard is people being paid to be queer which she knows is false because she hasn’t received her share of the pot yet and is still waiting, lol. Gaming and being queer has been interesting because when she started gaming, she joined a couple of esports groups who just saw her as a woman and treated her different. They accepted her only because she was a woman and not a threat. When they found out she was queer, the negative comments and belittling began on the LGBTQ issue in Ghana. It’s been stressful but encouraging by believing it’s ok to remove yourself from negative situations, and just like that she’s been thriving since, her best decision she claims. She has found a community of queer gamers both locally and abroad and her relationship with her non-queer teammates and other gamers is based on respect. Being queer hasn’t affected how she relates with other people that much. She just feels that certain things or jokes she’ll make will be better understood by people like her. She says as long as both parties respect each other and know and respect what they came to do, which is game, there should be no problem. The most challenging thing about being queer for her, is having people just hate and disrespect her because of who she is and choose to love, or say degrading things during her streams which makes it sometimes difficult. One thing she wants the world to know is love is love and there’s no reason to hate someone because you hold a different perspective. Don’t be that person who introduces negativity into an already dire situation. The world is already hard, don’t make it so bad. Queer is a part of her, it’s who she is. She is Fearless.

Their name Anonymous, their story Strategic.

They’re a 32yr old Ghanaian who came from a complicated Ghanaian family and had to do what they could to survive. They developed their love for entertainment quite early in their childhood and knew they had to be a star and on TV. They see themselves as the black sheep of their family because they didn’t do things the traditional way. Their esports career started with someone convincing their mom to make them go to the university despite their disapproval and found themselves in circles that consisted of a few females but mostly males. Their love for MCing whilst being a radio show host, led to them playing video games with friends on a laptop, which developed their interest in gaming. The NBA was their first love but due to time differences, the switch to football became imminent and that’s how they found themselves playing FIFA and participating in competitions in the Volta region. They fought hard in their first competition in 2020 causing upsets and proving they can hold their own against some giants of FIFA, and that’s how they met the esports association president who told them all they need to know about esports and added them to a group of likeminded women, who journeyed together attending gaming events and seminars. They are a person with many talents and hold a regular job as a social media manager and an event host at night. They describe their journey as easy because they took charge of the opportunities that presented themselves, by making themselves available for assignments. They were signed to an esports team in Ho, and because of their determination and ability to motivate people they were given the position of coach and then team manager. Their constant involvement in the esports scene landed them their first job at managing the first gaming stadium in Ghana and holding a position in the esports association. Since their joining of the queens esports team they have created various opportunities for ladies such as introducing them to queer mentorship programs of which I was part of, paying half of the gaming rates when she managed an esports stadium, creating esports teams to participate in tournaments that required travelling outside the country and a whole lot more. The only person they had told they were queer was a younger sibling and a couple of friends who are queer too and the reception was awesome. They were supportive and it made them feel like they had people they could discuss certain issues with and make certain jokes to. They are not publicly out because they still have short/medium term ambitions in Ghana and coming out publicly would hinder their progress because we live in a small-minded country. A major international news agency interviewed them, and they see themselves as an advocate of women inclusion in games. They feel the anti-LGBTQ bill is harsh and that the homophobes should check themselves, because most queer people produce and create most of the things we wear and eat. They are super comfortable with who they are, and they believe they have a great relationship with other non-queer teammates and gamers because they do not put their sexuality out there as a means of oppression but by being themselves, a good rapport is built. They just relate with them based on their interest and do not pressure them to be queer too. They believe there’s a time and place to be queer and they don’t go around flaunting their sexuality just like every other queer person in Ghana. They read the room and are able to adapt, that doesn’t mean they’re fake or being untrue to who they are. They would rather be themselves around people they feel comfortable with. Their message to the people is simple, rules are meant to be broken and when people are forced to become something they’re not used to, a lot more harm is done than good. Their queerness in gaming has opened doors for them that their country couldn’t and opened them to new experiences and great friendships. They want the world to know they have a dream of creating their own esports team and they shouldn’t be viewed as if they can’t. They’re different but their difference should be tolerated. Queer isn’t all they are. They’re Strategic

Her name Lerssa. Her story, Ally.

She is a 26-year-old personal assistant, an esports athlete who loves to read light novels, murders, fantasy novels and sometimes write. She met her queer teammates in her gaming career for the first time in a recently ended tournament and she has mostly been fascinated because until them, she’d never interacted with anyone in the LGBTQ community. It was an honor they were comfortable enough to share their sexuality with her. She is proud of them for being as open as they could, taking charge of their sexualities and not conforming to the iron clad rules of society She started playing games when I was little with V cop being her first and later GTA Liberty, Vice City and NFS games. She got to know about esports in 2021, when she saw ads of a new team recruiting people in Ghana. She applied to be part of the esports team and got signed in 2021 to Playprovince. Her journey has been a surreal one because since finding out all she needed to do was play her favorite games and get paid for them and still get to interact with a lot of new persons through gaming, she’s been elated. She can’t determine if she’s made any impact in the esports community yet, but she wants to get a message out there that girls and women who think certain genres of games belong to just men, can be as daring and play them and even be so much better than men. The biggest stereotype she’s heard of the queer community is how queers start targeting and converting kids into queer people, which she debunks and thinks even though kids are kids, deep down they know what they want and are mature enough to choose what works for them. She also hates how people think queer people will be intimate in front of them knowing heterosexual people are more into the PDA scenes and that blame shouldn’t be but on the queer community for things they haven’t and wouldn’t even do. It’s wrong how people don’t consider the community’s rights and think less of them because of their sexualities and genders. The only challenge she’s faced as an ally is being asked if she is bisexual or a lesbian and though she’s never minded being mistaken as one, she’d rather people be considerate and not judge people based on their looks and who they choose to love. It’s hard speaking for the queer community because of the hate queers get and she gets criticized a lot, but she never stops being an advocate. Queer isn’t who she is, She’s an ALLY.

Color me impressed and inspired by these beautiful people and how bold they are to share their stories and their struggles. I believe we, as a country, have more room for growth and if the leaders in the community focus on developing the esports sector as much as they focus on making our personal lives and bedroom decisions their business, we could be a better developed country with lots to offer. The fates of mine and other queer persons in Ghana hang in the balance and if we take a leaf out of the books of other countries like Uganda’s, it will only add to our misery as a nation. My hope with this article, is to show the Ghanaian community how much more we are, that queer isn’t all we are, we are people just like them. People with emotions and normal problems like them and we would be so much more if we didn’t have to worry about our lives every single day. Queer isn’t all we are. We are human.