Vunderkind
Social Member
When I first read that President Goodluck Jonathan had signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act into law, my first reaction was “why so sudden? That’s so abrupt.”
There was no prior warning, and it took many of us by surprise. Sure, this has been an ongoing issue since last year, but the swiftness with which the law was signed was remarkable. If only other things in this country were dealt with as speedily.
The same-sex marriage prohibition act doesn’t rest on the fringes of gay marriages however, but makes it a crime to run homosexual clubs, groups, associations and organizations. People found ‘guilty’ of being gay would be looking at up to 14 years in jail.
The ricochet of the bullet shot by president Jonathan is still zinging about, hitting far-reaching places and bringing with it loud reports. For example., John Kerry, US Secretary of State came out to express the ‘deep concern’ that US had over a law, which (in their opinion, at least – a poll says more than 90% of Nigerians are in support of the anti-gay bill) “dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association and expression for all Nigerians.”
If you would take a brief sojourn down Memory Lane with me, you’d remember that when Nigeria first began contemplating this bill, the U.K and other Western Europe governments raised their hackles, threatening to withdraw aid from any country that persecuted its homosexuals. That made several African countries (case study: Uganda) put a halt to their own legislation.
If you understand this, the question that immediately presents itself to you is: “why then, in spite of this pressure from Western Europe, would Nigeria’s government still go along with passing the bill?”. It becomes even further confusing when we realize that the bill was probably not even relevant (or necessary) as Sodomy had since been outlawed in the country and there is very little chance of Nigerian homosexuals publicly and outrageously calling for same-sex marriage in Nigeria.
So – why was the bill passed at all? To what end? The answer (disappointingly) is not even complicated: Nigerians are incredibly anti-gay (I mentioned above that 92% of Nigerians are against gays) and the move to ban same-sex marriage is a gambit that allows President Jonathan garner popularity with Nigerians ahead of 2015. Also, when we get right down to the crux of the matter – Nigeria, unlike Uganda, doesn’t need Western aid to the same crippling degree that other African countries do.
In a country already intolerant of homosexuals, the bill hands a loaded gun to misguided moralists to persecute, ostracize, alienate and perhaps lynch the gay ones among us. There are already reports of arrests up North, and I fear this may only just be the beginning.
There was no prior warning, and it took many of us by surprise. Sure, this has been an ongoing issue since last year, but the swiftness with which the law was signed was remarkable. If only other things in this country were dealt with as speedily.
The same-sex marriage prohibition act doesn’t rest on the fringes of gay marriages however, but makes it a crime to run homosexual clubs, groups, associations and organizations. People found ‘guilty’ of being gay would be looking at up to 14 years in jail.
The ricochet of the bullet shot by president Jonathan is still zinging about, hitting far-reaching places and bringing with it loud reports. For example., John Kerry, US Secretary of State came out to express the ‘deep concern’ that US had over a law, which (in their opinion, at least – a poll says more than 90% of Nigerians are in support of the anti-gay bill) “dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association and expression for all Nigerians.”
If you would take a brief sojourn down Memory Lane with me, you’d remember that when Nigeria first began contemplating this bill, the U.K and other Western Europe governments raised their hackles, threatening to withdraw aid from any country that persecuted its homosexuals. That made several African countries (case study: Uganda) put a halt to their own legislation.
If you understand this, the question that immediately presents itself to you is: “why then, in spite of this pressure from Western Europe, would Nigeria’s government still go along with passing the bill?”. It becomes even further confusing when we realize that the bill was probably not even relevant (or necessary) as Sodomy had since been outlawed in the country and there is very little chance of Nigerian homosexuals publicly and outrageously calling for same-sex marriage in Nigeria.
So – why was the bill passed at all? To what end? The answer (disappointingly) is not even complicated: Nigerians are incredibly anti-gay (I mentioned above that 92% of Nigerians are against gays) and the move to ban same-sex marriage is a gambit that allows President Jonathan garner popularity with Nigerians ahead of 2015. Also, when we get right down to the crux of the matter – Nigeria, unlike Uganda, doesn’t need Western aid to the same crippling degree that other African countries do.
In a country already intolerant of homosexuals, the bill hands a loaded gun to misguided moralists to persecute, ostracize, alienate and perhaps lynch the gay ones among us. There are already reports of arrests up North, and I fear this may only just be the beginning.
