The name House of Guramayle is of enormous cultural and political value to us. Home is somewhere anyone can seek refuge and shelter in. The idea of a home that always has its doors open for those who need a safe space is something we hold very dearly to our hearts. House of Guramayle as a platform itself has always had the vision of a safe space for the Ethiopian LGBT+ community.
As Ethiopian LGBTIQ+ identifying individuals born and raised in Ethiopia, our lives were filled with feelings of constant inadequacy. We never experienced a sense of belonging to our society because we were brought up to believe that as an Ethiopian, you can never claim any other identity. We created House of Guramayle for people who feel as marginalised as we did growing up, envisaging it as a home that anyone can seek refuge and shelter in.
As for Guramayle, it is the art of merging superficial divides and is of enormous cultural and political value to us. It means reclaiming our Ethiopian identities from those who would exclude us, through embracing our personal choice to live our lives freely. Guramayle means finding yourself again; to us, it represents survival.
House of Guramayle is co-founded by Ethiopian LGBTIQ+ community members and allies based around the world, including in the UK, Austria and the USA.
Bahiru is an Ethiopian film-maker in exile in the UK. When he lived in Ethiopia, Bahiru advocated for the end of discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community. He focused on creating a community, arranging trusted doctors for LGBTIQ+ people to go to and fundraising for LGBTIQ+ people in crisis. In the UK, he has worked as a creative director for an ad agency.
Faris is a performance artist, PCCC standup comedian, and an intersectional LGBTQIA* advocate who uses different mediums such as style activism, video, and audio to bring social change and start a conversation change on the issues they face while navigating day-to-day life as a non-binary Ethiopian/African LGBTQIA* advocate/refugee in central Europe and back to their homeland Ethiopia. They have lived in Austria since 2017, having been granted asylum after their security in Ethiopia got compromised.
Through their artistic practice, they were the recipient of a scholarship from art program from City of Vienna via Kültür Gemma program for the year 2019, performed in Wienwoche – a festival where art & activism meet in a performance titled “Goddess in Diaspora” and also participated in 10 days group exhibition under Kulturen in Bewegung cultural institute titled “Queering Ethiopian Coffee ceremony”, part of artistic research lab titled: Imagining otherwise in Tanzquartier Wien” curated by Tonica Hunter, and Transkulturalität_mdw – Symposium 2021 “Contesting Border Regimes – Sounds and Images” curated by Tonica Hunter.
Zelly is an Ethiopian-born British writer, poet, multidisciplinary artist, and human rights activist who is based in the UK. Her work tries to make sense of the injustices in the world whilst also celebrating the beauty to be found. She explores the depths and intersections of marginalized identities and the impact of wider society in everyday life through the lens of neurodiversity, gender, sexuality, nature, mental health, and human rights. Zelly’s interviews and appearances include local BBC Television and Radio, The Asmara-Addis Literary Festival, Spill Festival of Performance, Folk East Festival, Primadonna Festival, Suffolk Pride, Norwich Pride, London Pride, and UK Black Pride.
Robel leads on House of Guramayle’s activities in the USA from Washington D.C. He is the co-founder and director of support and advocacy group Ethiopian LGBTI. Robel is also one of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2018 Global Innovators and took part in the Mr. Gay World competition in 2012.
Amrote, who was born & raised in Ethiopia, is now based in the UK, where she is a supply chain management and IT professional in the international non-governmental sector. Amrote is an LGBTIQ+ collaborator and intersectional human rights advocate.
We have a directory of resources for Ethiopian LGBTIQ+ community members in danger.
Resources