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Hotbed of Homophobic Violence
17 Apr 2008- Nigeria- Even in Africa--a continent not known for
its gay-friendly cultures or governments Nigeria stands out for the
virulence and violence against gay men in particular as well as
lesbians.
The cultural residue
of colonial occupation, political maneuvering, encouraged by the
country’s influential Christian and Muslim faiths, makes Nigeria one of
the most challenging African nations in which to live openly as a
homosexual. A federal republic whose 36 states and capital territory are
home to over 140 million people, Nigeria’s current leader is Umaru Musa
Yar’Adu, whose April, 2007 election to a four-year term was
characterized by a U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
report as "marred by massive fraud, vote rigging and political
violence."
That report also
noted "government officials at all levels" committing abuses, including
"politically motivated killings by security forces, arbitrary arrest and
prolonged pretrial detention" as well as "restrictions on speech, press,
assembly, religion and movement." Homosexuality, illegal under federal
law, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In northern Muslim
states, which observe Sharia law, those found guilty of homosexual
intercourse can receive death by stoning.
Authorization by the
governor is required for a sentence to be carried out. While this has
yet to happen, convicted homosexuals can expect to spend the rest of
their lives on Death Row. In the Christian-dominated south, things are
not much better.
"The
real threat of death or serious injury is not from legal actions by the
state, but from mob violence and unofficial actions by the police who
are a law unto themselves," says Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing
Attitude Nigeria. "In that way, there is very little difference between
North and South."
Mac-Iyalla,
currently living in exile, emphasizes another troublesome similarity
between the Christian south and a Muslim north: "One of the few common
perspectives between Islam and popular Christianity in Nigeria is a
hatred of homosexuality."
Rev.
Pat Bumgardner, global justice ministry chair of the MCC Church (one of
the few U.S. organizations on the ground in Nigeria), observes, "Even if
there weren’t a Christian-Muslim split, the situation would still be
complicated by the fact that the primary religious voices are
fundamentalist."
The MCC,
a Protestant denomination that was founded to be gay friendly, is
fighting, as Bumgardner puts it, "to put a different face on religion
and say fundamentalists don’t represent people of all faith. It is
possible to be Christian and gay and believe that is good."
MCC
works mostly in the capital, the sprawling city of Lagos. Its House of
Rainbow is a community of very young gay men, for whom MCC offers a
spiritual home and a safe space to be themselves "in a country where
just to exist is a criminal act and punishable in some very extreme
ways." House of Rainbow also serves as a hiding place where LGBT
Nigerians receive counseling and support from others who are gay.
Those
attempting to live openly face hostile society and laws. They’ve become
political footballs for various forces, especially Peter Akinola, the
Anglican archbishop of Nigeria. Akinola recently served as president of
the Christian Association of Nigeria, the umbrella group for most of the
churches of Nigeria.
Now,
Akinola is aligning himself with anti-gay Episcopalians in the U.S. and
is starting a breakaway denomination. Mike Hersee of Changing Attitude
Nigeria, believes Akinola is using the issue of homosexuality: "It’s
power dressed up as morality." Hersee notes that Akinola’s power grab is
happening in a place where "religion holds much greater sway than it
does in more developed countries. This influences all levels of society,
including politics."
Christians & Muslims United in Hate
Homosexuality also
serves as a rare source of agreement between Islam and Christianity.
Hersee describes both religions, as practiced in Nigeria, as being
"particularly hard on homosexuality as a convenient way of bonding
between Nigerians across the whole country, and also as a way of
maintaining the appearance of being vigilant against destructive
forces."
A Sept. 7, 2007,
report from the German journal Gay Republic Daily, recounted how the
newly appointed Bishop Orama of Uyo described gay people as "insane,
satanic and not fit to live." He only claimed it to be a misreporting of
what was actually said several days after the Archbishop of Canterbury
stepped in to condemn the comments. Mac-Iyalla believes Uyo only refuted
his comments because of the unexpected furor they created outside
Nigeria.
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