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Bisi Alimi ( Adebisi Ademola Alimi, born 17 January 1975) is a British-Nigerian gay rights activist, public speaker, blog writer and HIV/LGBT advocate who gained international attention when he became the first Nigerian to Coming out on television.
He was admitted at Birkbeck College, University of London in 2011, where he earned his master's degree in Global Governance and Public Policy.
In 2019, he was offered the John Stopford Scholarship to study Masters in Executive Coaching at Meyler Campbell Coaching School.
In early 2004, Alimi attended the 4th National Conference on HIV/AIDS held in Abuja where he voiced HIV concerns amongst Nigerian gay men. He was later to become a Nigerian gay rights activist leading several peaceful protests and social dialogues to demand acceptance of homosexuals in Nigeria.
His controversial interview on national television in 2004 became the catalyst for the proposed motion on "Anti-Same Sex Bill" of 2006 that was presented to lawmakers in the Nigerian National Assembly. The motion for this controversial "Anti-Same Sex" bill was presented before the legislative house three times between 2006 and 2011.
In 2005, Alimi co-founded The Independent Project (later, The Initiative for Equal Rights) with a group of friends. He served as executive director of this organization where he pioneered several Nigerian LGBT Youth Group initiatives until April 2007. He also worked as director of Nigeria youth programmes at Alliance Rights organization.
In 2007, Alimi was forced to flee Nigeria following threats to his life. He was granted asylum in 2008 by the UK, where he has been resident since. On 8 December 2014, he was conferred with British citizenship.
From 2007 to 2011, Alimi worked as African MSM Project Co-ordinator at Naz Project London. Alimi is a co-founder and director of Rainbow Intersection, as well as co-founder of the Kaleidoscope Trust for which he served as Director for Africa from 2012 to 2013. He has been a visiting lecturer at Freie Universitat Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin.
Apart from sexual rights advocacy, Alimi has also organised protests against UK policies that are capable of inciting racial prejudice.
In 2015, Alimi founded the Bisi Alimi Foundation (BAF), registered in England and Wales, but operating in Nigeria as a result of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act 2013. Its goal is to accelerate social acceptance for LGBT in Nigeria. He is the executive director of the foundation.
In 2025, Alimi was appointed the executive director of Wikimedia LGBT+ as the organisation's first executive director.
He was listed third on the 100 most influential Non White Atheist and Free thinkers in Britain and Northern Ireland.
On New Year's Day, 2014, he was added to The Gay UK LGBT 2014 Honour List in recognition of his exemplary work for 'Education in the LGBT Community' and he has been nominated for the "Out In The City" magazine's Diversity Champion of the Year Award.
He has written many controversial opinion pieces, including "Men can't be Feminist", "I am no longer talking to Black Africans about Race", and "Why It’s So Dangerous To Pretend That Racism Doesn’t Exist". "The Development Cost of Homophobia" is his most successful article that was translated into over 15 languages globally. His article for the Guardian, "If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history", has been cited in many news articles and journals globally. His collection of poems includes: " a note to my father”, " The answer is always there”, and his published poem " I told them a tale”.
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