FannyAnn Eddy

Who was FannyAnn Eddy?

Fannyann Viola Eddy was an activist for lesbian and gay rights in her native Sierra Leone and throughout Africa. In 2002, she founded the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, the first of its kind in Sierra Leone. She traveled widely, addressing the United Nations and other international groups. In April 2004, she advocated the passing of the Brazilian Resolution at the UN in Geneva.

Eddy was murdered on September 29, 2004, a group of at least three men broke into the office of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association in central Freetown, gang-raped her, stabbed her, and eventually broke her neck.

Eddy left behind a 10-year-old son and a girlfriend Esther Chikalipa.

In 2008 the FannyAnn Eddy Poetry Award was named in her honour.