This African Mother Is a Lesbian and a 'Criminal'
Wow. This is not an article but an excerpt from the book, OUTsider: Crossing Borders, Breaking Rules, Gaining Pride by Ruth Marimo.
The Advocate
July 23, 2014
This African Mother Is a Lesbian and a 'Criminal'
By daring to speak and live her truth as a lesbian, Zimbabwean immigrant and mother of two Ruth Marimo knew she was endangering her life.
BY Ruth Marimo
July 23 2014
Ruth Marimo was a mother, Zimbabwean immigrant, abuse survivor, and lesbian. In this excerpt from OUTsider, read about the night her ex-husband turned all that against her to add one more identity: inmate.
I find myself sitting on a shiny metal stool, writing on a shiny metal table, wearing an orange outfit with big black letters that say CASS COUNTY JAIL. Tears are streaming down my face and falling like raindrops onto the paper on which I'm trying to write. The cold temperature of the room infuses a chill right into the core of my weak bones.
"What's my crime?" you ask. I'm an alien — illegal in this foreign land, put here in this jail cell by the person I've spent the last seven years of my life with, the person with whom I bore two beautiful children, the citizen to whom I'm still legally married, the person who nearly took my life a little over a month ago.
I had separated myself from Ted at the beginning of the year. It was September 20, 2008. In my heart and mind, I had no emotional, physical, or spiritual ties to Ted. Legally, we were still married, but I had started the process of acquiring a lawyer. Because I knew that he would turn my immigration status against me, I had started to look into what options I had to obtain legal residency without him. …
MORE at http://www.advocate.com/women/2014/07/23/night-being-african-lesbian-mother-became-crime?page=full
