Much Ado about Homosexuality in Nigeria

I have decided to take up the topic" Homosexuality In Nigeria because of recent happenings in the country.
Last week the country experienced an unprecedented show of solidarity by members of a network I would call "The Gay Network". Media outlets were awashed with news on the peaceful protest carried out by Gay practitioners at a magistrate court sitting in Anambra sate. If you missed it, this is how punch puts it

Members of the gay community in Anambra State on Wednesday disrupted court proceedings at the Atani Chief Magistrate’s Court, while protesting the arraignment of two of them for allegedly having same sex relationship.

The gay members had thronged the court as early as 9am to show solidarity with their members arrested by the state police command.

A large number of them came to the court with femine outlook to the surprise of the people around.

The group, who sang anti-police and court songs, said they should be allowed to exercise their fundamental human rights and to show solidarity with their members who were standing trial.

They also demanded the unconditional release of the two accused persons, vowing to continue to fight for their rights despite the move by the National Assembly to criminalize their relationships.

However, the two accused persons, whose identities could not immediately be confirmed, were later remanded in prison, as the magistrate’s court said it had no jurisdiction to try the matter.

When has it become the responsibility of the Parliament to legislate on the social lifestyle of individuals? Section 35 subsection 1 of the 1999 Constitution as amended states that

Every Person shall be entitled to his respect, Liberty and nobody shall be deprived of such liberty except in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure permitted by law

• In execution of the sentence or order of a court in respect of a criminal offence which he has been found guilty.

• by reason of his failure to comply with the order of a court or in order to secure the fulfillment of any obligation imposed upon him by law

• the purpose of bringing him before a court in execution of the order of a court or upon suspicion of his having omitted a criminal offence or to such extent as may be reasonably necessary to prevent his committing a criminal offence;

• in the case of a person who has not attained the age of 18for his education or welfare;

• in the case of persons suffering from infectious or contagious disease, persons of unsound mind, persons addicted to drug or alcohol or vagrants for the purpose of their care or treatment or protection of the community.

• for the purpose of preventing the unlawful entry of any person into Nigeria or for effecting the expulsion, extradition or other lawful removal from Nigeria of any person or the taking of proceeding relating thereto. 

section 39(1) states that

Every Person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

A couple of weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill that makes same-sex marriage a felonious act punishable by up to 14 years in the penitentiary. Those who arrange, enable, or support such relationships, according to the bill, may incur a 10-year prison sentence. The bill also forbids anyone from operating a gay club and or associated organisations. It also criminalises public display of affection by the homosexual community. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2011. Once both bills are harmonised, and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan, it becomes the law of the land.

My hope is that President Jonathan will not sign this bill. As the chief law enforcement officer of the nation, he must not sign a bill that unfairly punishes and victimises a section of the public. A law against indecent exposure? Yes! Laws against public sex and sex with minors? Yes! Law against canal knowledge of mentally-incapacitated adults? Of course — but not laws against adults who willingly entered into a mutually benefitting relationship.

It is not the duty or the right of any government to legislate against private behaviour – especially if the behaviour is in private, harms no one, and harms no private or public institutions. We don’t need this law. Homosexuality and or same-sex marriages do not infringe on our civil and human rights. It does not abridge our national security; and neither does it make us less safe or less human.

There are a dozen and one related matters our lawmakers should or could have worried about, i.e. violence against women and children; sex with minors by adults; the inequality of sexes; adults who marry underage girls; child labour and child slavery; the exploitation and subjugation of the poor and the needy; and the severe lack of goods and services for our nation’s teeming underclass. The negative attention, and the condemnation directed at our fellow Nigerians who are of different sexual orientation and belief and practice are wholly uncalled for. In essence, this bill is much ado about nothing!

Sadly, this legislation has the backing of both Islamic and Christian clerics. Shouldn’t they be the ones preaching and encouraging universal love? Shouldn’t they be the ones encouraging tolerance and the equality of all Nigerians? Today, we find the Church and the Mosque at the forefront of hate, intolerance and prejudice. We hear supposed men of God spewing vile against those they consider different. Unfortunately, the Nigerian media and the civil society have not been of much help.  Their silence has been deafening, and their indifference, regretful.

And even the great Nigerian people – many of whom are uninformed, ill-informed or totally unschooled in general human sexuality — are complicit in the official fight against our homosexual brothers and sisters. For those of us who are heterosexuals, we cannot and must not acquiesce to the criminalisation of same-affection affection.  We cannot! We cannot because all consenting adults have the right to love whoever loves them. They have the right to be with whoever makes them happy. They have the right to be free, and to live free and happy in a free world.

Millions of Nigerians probably do not know that when some of these politicians visit the United States, Canada, Germany and other parts of the world, they engage in “sexual perversions” – perversions that may include fisting, rimming, anality, double-penetration, gang-bang, and circle jerk. Some have even been said to attend orgies and swinger parties. And they do these and many other sexual and non-sexual activities with the taxpayers’ money. Yet – yet – back in Nigeria, many behave as if they are paragons of morality, keepers of the moral cathedral.

But really, at what point did the Nigerian politicians decide they were going to confront the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community? At what point did they dream up such an inchoate and dehumanising legislation?  If I were a gambler, I’d bet that a sizeable number of Nigerian legislators (since 1999) are not wholly heterosexuals. Even so, I won’t and you too should not hold it against them. Human sexuality is simply what it is: Natural!

The American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists all agree that homosexuals and their sexual cousins are “created by nature.” After all these years, there has not been any credible scientific organisation anywhere in the world –including Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria or Saudi Arabia — that labelled the LGBT community sick, diseased, or unnatural. Not one!

 

Basing the argument against Homosexuality on morality and religiosity is totally outrageous considering the fact that our lawmakers are one of the greatest practitioners of immorality if not how do we explain the fact that a lawmaker would get married to A 13 YEAR OLD, isn't that abominable? Most of our Lawmakers are bisexuals, Gay in the closet, heterosexuals in the public. why wasn't it included that a mere proof that you are homosexually oriented should attract a prison sentence or are our Lawmakers scared of the cockroaches in their closets? Nigeria has come to a threshold where no law should be enacted based on religion because in doing so, we are hypocritical condemning the violent sect Boko Haram for pursuing their religion to the letter while at the same time enacting policies that are religiously inclined.

Today, the world is gradually moving towards this scientific reality. And in the not-too-distant future, social and cultural mores in all parts of the open and civilised world will catch up with this thinking. The problem with the vast majority of Nigerians and other Africans is that they are afraid – fearful of the unknown. But they need not be afraid. Homosexuality is not an unknown phenomenon on the continent. It is as African as tribal marks, indentured servitude, polygamy and circumcision.  If you doubt me, ask faculty members at the department of History or the department of Anthropology at any Nigerian university. So, please get over it!

However, what you should not get over are politicians who, on a daily basis, embezzle our money with impunity. And even if you wholeheartedly believe that homosexuality is bad, well, look at it this way: they engage in joyful rides with consenting adults. They are about love and happiness and mutually consenting activities. They are not the ones damaging our economic space; they are not the ones weakening our governing institutions. They are not the ones who refused to build and repair the roads, bridges and hospitals across the country and in the process causing thousands of preventable deaths every year. These politicians deserve to be locked up for 14 years for the trillions of naira they have stolen since 1999, at least.

 

 

I would advise that homosexuals should not carry placards around begging for their rights but should immediately challenge the piece of legislation at the courts. The Penal code which the police based their allegations on were put in place during the military regime at a time the constitution was suspended. with our current constitution, I can assure that that legislation is nothing but a serious case of LEGISLATIVE RASCALITY