Kenneth Figuly shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Kenneth , we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Have you stood up for someone when it cost you something?
Yes, I did. I wrote a book about LGBTQ rights and the marginalized, and that work led to me being invited to speak at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. I went there believing I was standing with a community I loved and wanted to defend. But the truth is, taking that stand cost me everything. What began as advocacy became survival. I was targeted, rejected, and eventually had to flee. The only reason I made it home alive was because the US consulate intervened and helped me escape. That experience broke me for a time, but it also restored my faith in my country, and in the courage it takes to speak the truth, even when it costs you everything.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Kenneth Figuly. I am a writer and human rights advocate who has devoted my life to telling the stories that most people are too afraid to tell. My work lives at the intersection of truth and emotion. It is about the LGBTQ experience, but more than that, it is about humanity, the cost of love, and the courage it takes to be seen. What makes my work unique is that I do not write from observation. I write from survival. I have lived the stories I tell. I have walked through fear, exile, and heartbreak to reach a place where my voice could finally be used to protect others. My brand is built on honesty and defiance. I do not believe in polishing the truth until it shines. I believe in showing it as it really is. Right now, I am working on projects that connect queer voices across continents and give them a platform to speak for themselves. My hope is that every story I write becomes a light for someone still living in the dark.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
The person who saw me clearly before I could see myself was Hamza. He was the kind of man who looked at me and didn’t see what I was trying to prove. He saw what I was hiding. He met me at a time when I was running from my own reflection, still trying to make peace with the years I had lost to fear and pretending. Hamza didn’t ask me to be brave. He simply treated me as if I already was. He saw the gentleness I mistook for weakness, the strength I buried under shame, and the love I had never believed I deserved. From the moment I met him, I began to see myself through his eyes, and when he left, that vision stayed with me. He gave me back the man I had been searching for all my life.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, there was a time I almost gave up. I am embarrassed to admit it, but after losing Hamza, after nearly losing my own life, and coming home to a family that could not accept me for the love I chose, I fell into a darkness I had never known. One night I sat alone with a gun in my lap and asked myself if anything I had fought for was worth it. I didn’t want to die, but I also didn’t know how to keep living with that kind of pain. That was the moment I met the edge of myself. I am still here, and I am grateful, but that night will always remind me how close I came to disappearing.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
There are two people I deeply admire for their character, not for their power. Martin Luther King Junior and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Both overcame unimaginable odds with grace, intelligence, and a kind of moral clarity that feels almost spiritual. They never needed to shout to be heard. They spoke through truth, through empathy, through the quiet conviction that light is stronger than fear. I admire them because they remind me that greatness has nothing to do with status or wealth. It has everything to do with how you treat people when no one is watching.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
What I think people will most misunderstand about my legacy is that they will see it as tragedy when it was really transformation. They may focus on the losses, the exile, the heartbreak, and miss the quiet triumph that lived beneath it all. My life was never about suffering for its own sake. It was about breaking myself open so that others could find themselves in the pieces. People may mistake my pain for weakness, but it was the source of my strength. What they might never fully grasp is that every wound I carried became a doorway to something sacred. My story was never about how much I endured. It was about how much love I refused to stop believing in.
Image Credits
Kenny Figuly, Mohammed Abdul-Wadud, Alex Kofi Donkor, David Larbi and Halil Mohammed
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
