Against Homophobia, Supermodel Aweng Ade-Chuol Kisses Her Same Sex Partner

Aweng Ade-Chuol and his partner Alexus (Instagram @awengchuol)

JAKARTA - Supermodel Aweng Ade-Chuol kisses his wife Alexus on the cover of Elle magazine to rebuke homophobes. Ade-Chuol admits that homophobic harassment is destroying his mental health.

"I'm the type of person who has met lots of beautiful people, and it's like, okay, cool, goodbye," she told Elle UK.

"But after I saw him (Alexus, who he calls Lexy), I was just normal until he gave me his personal number."

The couple married in New York, where they lived until they moved to London recently, in December 2019.

The Ade-Chuol family, who fled the Sudanese civil war and were granted asylum to Sydney in 2006 (this supermodel was born in a Kenyan refugee camp) is eager to meet their new daughter-in-law.

However, the response from his home country, South Sudan, was not as good. Ade-Chuol has faced severe homophobic abuse that had a major impact on his mental health, leading to a suicide attempt in April this year.

"We are married and the whole world, literally my whole community, hopes that I can get through this," said the 21-year-old woman.

“A few months later, I tried (suicide). It really didn't make sense, because I felt like I might be drained by the fact that we were getting married. "

Aweng Ade-Chuol and Alexus on the cover of Elle magazine (Instagram @awengchuol)

Ade-Chuol said that nearly a year had passed, newspapers and the community were still discussing his marriage, asking: "How dare he marry a woman?"

"For me, with the current political climate, you really think my marriage is the most important thing in your life right now?" he added.

"It's really sad, because it was the happiest day of my life, and they couldn't let me enjoy it."

He shared his struggles with Instagram two months later, telling fans he had found a path to "a much better place".

In September, Ade-Chuol uttered the words "I'm a lesbian" for the first time on social media, and was blown away by the response from young Sudanese girls.

I'm a lesbian. But always here for my LGBT + team ☺️🤎 https://t.co/ZECvJ102tn

- AWENG🐄 (@AwengChuol) September 23, 2020

"It's wonderful to see how people react to having someone prove who they are," he told Elle.