NIGERIA - Nigeria tries to „sanitize“ itself of gays

According to an article by Adam Nossiter entitled „Nigeria tries to „sanitize“ itself of gays“ which was published in New York Times on the 8th of February 2014 strict laws have been introduced to punish and „sanitize“ same sex people in Nigeria.

In this article it is written that same sex is forbidden in Nigeria since British colonial time. However, recently the situation has deteriorated, especially in Northern Nigeria due to the Shariah law, which was signed by the president Goodluck Jonathan. This law is supposed to ban same-sex marriages but in reality it is much worse as it violates the basic universal human rights according to the United Nations. In fact, people suspected of being gay or to support them are prosecuted and imprisoned for ten years. According to local Islamic law the penalty is much more drastic and could even be death by stoning.

The article further explains that the population is eager to denunciate and kill suspected gay people and that in cases where the government’s sentence was jailing and not death the population threw stones and bottles at the victims outside the court.

The article says that Nigeria News media are largely supportive of the law and suggest that gay people are similar to animals. Even worse, the foreign affairs minister Viola Onwuliri praised the law as „democracy in action“ and suggested that Western critics are hypocrites to promote democracy and then complain about a law, which the populace supports.

While the international community criticizes this situation in Nigeria, in other African countries the former president Olusegun Obasanjo already suggested ten years earlier that „homosexual practice" was clearly unbiblical and un-African.
Due to this situation in Nigeria, gay people who live their homosexuality openly are greatly at risk and they have to hide or leave for towns further south which are not under Shariah law.

What we have to say about this:

Marriage, adoption, being together in public: Equal rights for homosexuals have beed successfully established in several Western countries. But the social acceptance of homosexuality doesn’t grow everywhere. The number of people who show tolerance towards homosexuality is high while it is almost zero in African and Arabian countries, according to a global study by the American PEW Research Centre. Nigeria is an extreme example of a country, which has created a law against gay sexuality. Homosexual acts of every kind are prohibited and punished in a dreadful way by the state. Thus, gay people are forced into the underground.

But how can the tolerance of actually innocent people be so limited? It has to be connected to the importance of religion in Nigeria. Gay sex just doesn’t correspond to the moral teachings of the church. For them, it is not right and acceptable to think differently about love than so-called normal people. In their eyes, the traditional family is challenged and something must be going wrong.
Another point made by homophobic people is that heterosexual partnerships are necessary for reproduction. In their eyes, it’s against the laws of nature if men want to form a family together.

There are even more arguments the homophobic can bring up: Homosexual pairs often omit protection during sexual acts, because they are not educated about enough. Maybe they are mindless of the same danger that comes from heterosexual acts. This causes even more cases of Aids/HIV infection. Nigeria’s health situation would simply decrease, if homosexuality wasn’t forbidden.

We find the State’s penalties - even death too cruel compared to the “crime” (they see it as a crime) that the gay people commit. It should be everyone’s own decision,  how to love and to live. Unfortunately, human are hardly ever taken heed of in Nigeria when it comes to the right to sexuality, which means that the victims cannot defend themselves against the violent acts they have to endure in their home country. This will continue till the laws that make this violence legal, have been changed.

The Nigerians should follow the example of Western countries such as the USA or Switzerland. Nowadays, the people there show more tolerance towards homosexuality because it has become a growing movement. More and more people stop being ashamed for what they are. As many celebrities, they feel the courage to out themselves in public. A good compromise between strict interdiction and total liberalization is the law in Switzerland that regulates this issue. Since 1942 homosexual actions are legal and registrations of gay/lesbian partnerships have been possible for a few years now, but adoption by homosexual couples is not possible. We like this middle way – nobody has to be raised in a family that is different from the norm and homosexuals can still enjoy their way of life.

Finally, we think that homosexuality should be legal everywhere, including Nigeria. And we hope, that it will be possible one day. (Fe, Ch, Ke)