Nigeria ready to punish same-sex marriages with 14-year jail terms

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Bill passed by senate in defiance of western pressure against legislation curbing gay rights

Monica Mark | Tuesday November 29 2011 15.43 GMT

A bill banning same sex marriages was passed by the Nigerian senate on Tuesday. Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, and one of the few that hasn't bowed to western pressure to drop legislation that curbs gay rights.

The bill, which makes same-sex marriage punishable by a 14-year jail term, still has to be ratified by the country's lower house before being signed off by the president, Goodluck Jonathan. It also seeks to tighten existing legislation, which already outlaws gay sex, by criminalising anyone who witnesses or assists such marriages.

=snip=

"I've never heard of a single Nigerian same-sex couple demanding to have marriage rights," said Unoma Azuah, a writer and gay rights activist. "So I am truly baffled as to why our lawmakers feel this debate is more relevant than terrorism, corruption, lack of infrastructure and education. The whole thing reminds me of the traditional Igbo proverb that says, 'He whose house is on fire does not go around chasing rats.'"

=snip=

Much anti-gay rights sentiment is rooted in perceived suspicion that it is a foreign import being foisted on the country by interfering outsiders. While threats from western governments to cut off aid amid growing anti-gay sentiment in the continent has forced other African countries to scrap proposed anti-gay laws, it's had the opposite effect in Nigeria, whose treasury is awash with dollars from its 2m barrels-a-day oil industry. Nigerian rights activists have also largely shied away from attracting the attention of their international counterparts. "International gay rights groups have in some situations been a hindrance more than a help because they are not entirely aware of the kind of reality the Nigerian gay person lives under. Sometimes, by sensationalising the situation, they have invited the wrath of fundamentalist Christians who like to think of themselves as the "guardians of the African culture," said Unoma Azuah.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/nigeria-same-sex-marriage-ban

[MADem]

1. Idiots. nt

[RKP5637]

2. Ignorance and repression never cease to amaze me, and yet another reason why Earth is

quarantined IMO to a remote corner of the universe.

[Odin2005]

3. Africa is going backwards.

:(

[SoapBox]

4. Boycott time...

Wake up world.

[russspeakeasy]

5. We are much more advanced here in the U.S.

No jail sentence just lifetime probation.