February 11, 2014 | Sex & Society

Nigeria: a most dangerous place for gays

Move over Uganda: Nigeria is aspiring to be the most dangerous country in Africa for gays and lesbians.

Gay sex in Nigeria has been illegal since British colonial days in the late nineteenth century. But to make sure everyone understood just how awful homosexuality is, President Goodluck Jonathan recently signed legislation making it illegal for gays to get married, and for gay rights groups to even meet (punishable by up to 14 years in jail). The law was welcomed in both the Muslim dominated north and the Christian dominated south. 

"This draconian new law makes an already-bad situation much worse," the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a statement. "It purports to ban same-sex marriage ceremonies but in reality does much more. Rarely have I seen a piece of legislation that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic, universal human rights."

Arrests of gay men have multiplied since the new law was passed. In Bauchi, northern Nigeria, ten men were recently arrested and held in jail. One has been found guilty of homosexuality and - though he could have been stoned to death - the judge was "lenient" and sentenced him to 20 brutal lashes from a whip. The other nine are still in prison, with crowds outside chanting for their death and threatening to burn down the prison. 

"It’s reawakened interest in communities to ‘sanitize,’ more or less, to talk about ‘moral sanitization,'" Dorothy Aken’Ova, executive director of Nigeria’s International Center for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, said. "Where it was quiet before, it’s gotten people thinking, ‘Who is behaving in a manner that may be gay?’ It’s driven people into the closet."

Those who are arrested are presumed guilty. They have difficulty finding lawyers, as no one wants to represent them. Friends and family don't want to be associated with them. And they are also kept away from other prisoners, so as not the 'spread the gay' (which actually may be a good thing, as it protects them from other inmates).

Criticism from Western countries is scoffed at. Viola Onwuliri, the acting foreign affairs minister, said the law was “democracy in action,” and the West should shut-up about legislation Nigerians almost unanimously support. (A Pew Research Center survey from last March found that 98 percent of Nigerians said homosexuality was unacceptable).

Of course, Nigeria will still take foreign aid, thank you very much. It has received over $400 billion in aid since it gained independence in 1960. Though it is rich in natural resources, it is also one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, so most of the aid dollars have gone to waste.   

Maybe that is why the government has decided to direct this hatred on a helpless minority. Let the masses rage against the gays, rather than working to end the endemic economic and social problems facing their nation. 

Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays [The New York Times]

Nigerian gay people being hunted down [BBC News]