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Bennie Attoh
Nigeria should respect Gay rights as human rights
Authors
Bennie Attoh
Nigeria should respect Gay rights as human rights | Nigeria should respect Gay rights as human rights |
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| Sunday, 06 August 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Nigerian government has outlawed gay civil partnership. It is an offence punishable by five years’ imprisonment for any citizen to take part in a gay civil partnership. In addition, the law also banned “any form of protest to press for rights or recognition” of homosexuals. Given that homosexuality is already illegal, and in some parts of Nigeria punishable by death, the question is why did the government bother at all in the first place? How do you smack a child and tell that child not to cry. The Government roles out a law, which infringes on the human rights of some citizens and then goes ahead to ban any kind of protest in whatever shape or form. This administration has been marred by serious irregularities and fraud, including political assassinations. Human-rights abuses and extra judicial killings, child abuse, child and women prostitution are common. With all the corruption, disease, and millions of Nigerians living below the poverty line, my question is; where is the moral justification for such a draconian law? It is bad enough that gay people are living in denial, fear and shame. A public admission of being gay is an invitation to lynching. Verbal attack of homosexuals is an easy way of distracting attention from the failure of Government. “Such a tendency is clearly un-biblical, unnatural and definitely un-African”, President Obasanjo said of homosexuality to a conference of Nigerian bishops in October 2004. I am not sure if President Obasanjo is the rightful man to deliver moral lessons to bishops. Yes Mr. President, but there are many unbiblical stuff happening in our day and time on planet earth especially in your Government. The attitude is to find someone to blame for all the troubles in society, usually the vulnerable ones. Nigerian gays are being stripped of their basic human rights (right to freedom – UDHR) in the name of “checking the possible erosion of our value system” because Nigeria is a conservative society. To make matters worse, protest is illegal. My point is that gays are human beings and their rights are human rights. I know a lot of gays who are very good people. In January this year, the Federal Executive Council approved a bill that prohibits same-sex marriages and relationships. This bill provides for a prison term of five years with no option of fine for anyone who contracts or has relationship with a person of the same sex including anyone who aids or supports in any way same sex marriage or relationship. The point is that I do not see any reason why two consenting adults should be criminalized because of their sexual orientation or sexual choices they make. Bear in mind, that these people are brothers, uncles, cousins, fathers in some cases, etc to other people. In the process of criminalizing them, we hurt their families as well. Some people are born gays. Others become gay due to the associations they form in their lifetime. Should we then crucify those who are born gays or those make certain choices for whatever reasons? Come to think of it, gays do not harm anyone by their sexual activities. In this day and age where several sections of the Nigeria society feel marginalized to the extent that they are advocating for secession, do we want to create another group of alienated Nigerian citizens? Nigeria is a diverse country with people of different ideas, beliefs and philosophies. There are conservatives as well as liberals. The Nigerian government should make laws that take cognisance of the nation’s plurality as well as dynamism; laws that are fair, balanced and inclusive. Amina Lawal was accused of committing adultery and was going to be stoned to death under a draconian law that recognises a woman as an adulterer and lets the man with whom she committed the offence go scott free. The truth is that there are still a lot of issues yet to be resolved about human sexuality and morality in general. Does this law banning same sex marriage resolve these issues in any way? No. Granted, the bible forbids homosexuality but it also forbids murder, fornication and adultery yet these are widely ‘celebrated’. The same bible tells us not to condemn or judge anyone. Indeed Our Lord Jesus Christ did not condemn the prostitute. Instead, he told the one without sin to cast the first stone. We are all guilty of one thing or the other according to the bible. There is need for reason, commonsense, thoughtfulness, knowledge, love, tolerance, human solidarity, and empathy in the management of issues like homosexuality and other human affairs in life. As a matter of fact, Nigeria should make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal, as we have seen in some other African countries and indeed across the world. Nigeria should honour its commitment and obligations as a signatory to UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments. Every Nigerian citizen deserves equal protection from the State. In the meantime, we have seen the effects of isolation and marginalisation in some parts of Nigeria, notably the Niger-Delta. Rebellion is now the other name for young militants. The beleaguered people of the Niger Delta have finally taken matters into their own hands with an insurrection amid fears of civil conflict throughout Nigeria and an open armed hostility in the country, one of the world’s largest oil exporters. Although homosexuality is not an ethnic thing, the crisis in the Niger-Delta is a classical example of what marginalisation of a group of people can do.
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The Nigerian government has outlawed gay civil partnership. It is an offence punishable by five years’ imprisonment for any citizen to take part in a gay civil partnership. In addition, the law also banned “any form of protest to press for rights or recognition” of homosexuals. Given that homosexuality is already illegal, and in some parts of Nigeria punishable by death, the question is why did the government bother at all in the first place? How do you smack a child and tell that child not to cry. The Government roles out a law, which infringes on the human rights of some citizens and then goes ahead to ban any kind of protest in whatever shape or form. 
