Behind the Mask was an online archive for

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

African activists and

LGBT rights in Africa LGBTQ, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Africa are generally lacking, especially in comparison to much of the LGBTQ rights in the Americas, Americas, LGBTQ rights in Europe, Europe and LGBTQ rights in Oceania, O ...

. Its offices were in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa. Its web address was www.mask.org.za. It mainly focused on South Africa, but it also supported LGBT activists in East and Central Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia), southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana), and West Africa (Ghana and Sierra Leone).Currier, Ashley. "Behind the mask: Developing LGBTI visibility in Africa." ''Development, Sexual Rights and Global Governance'' (2010): 155–68. It was started by the Dutch journalist Bart Luirink. Its aim was to support LGBT African movements with information. Behind the Mask "bolstered LGBT organizing throughout Africa because its website shared information about gains and setbacks that activists in different places experienced." Behind the Mask's websites aided the visibility of LGBT Africans and served as "beacons of hope for sexually and gender-variant Africans." Behind the Mask shut down in 2012 and the contents of its website were almost entirely lost. Parts of the website at are still viewable through the

Internet Archive Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

References

{{Reflist LGBTQ-related websites Online archives LGBTQ organisations based in South Africa