Abuja — As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the country's
legal position on gay marriage, Nigerian leaders are re-asserting their
position on the issue, advocating laws that further ban the already
illegal practice. Gay rights activists in Nigeria fear if the U.S.
Supreme Court decides to uphold laws banning gay marriage in America, it
will be an excuse to further squash gay rights in Nigeria.
Religious
and political leaders are bitterly divided on many issues but they
generally stand together in condemnation of gay marriage, saying it is a
practice that is spreading from the West and must be stopped.
Musa
Soba, a lawyer and local chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, a
prominent opposition party, rejects the view that gay marriage is a
human right.
"Your rights should remain as far as the issue of
survival is concerned, as far as your right to eat is concerned, your
right to life, your right to freedom of association and the rest. But it
does not transcend to your right to abuse nature," he said.
Pastor
Yohanna Buru, head of the Christ Evangelical Fellowship Church in the
northern city of Kaduna, says the notion of gay marriage is harming his
religion.
"There are certain agents in the church promoting evil
in the church. Destroying and deforming the name of Christianity," said
Buru.
And the spokesperson for the Supreme Council of Sharia Law
in Nigeria, Abdullahi Bayero, sees the practice as nothing short of
catastrophic.
"I believe from a religion perspective, as I have
said earlier, it is the beginning and a sign that the world is coming to
an end," said Bayero.
On the streets it is impossible to find anyone who will defend gay marriage.
"To
me, in my opinion it is totally unacceptable," a man said. Another man
adds, "It’s a devilish act. It’s barbaric and animalistic."
"It’s not good," a women said. "I don’t support it at all. I don’t support it."
Private support
And
behind closed doors in this compound outside the Nigerian capital,
Thaddeus Ugoh, who advocates for the rights of sexual minorities, says
even he would not speak up for gay marriage on the streets. But he says
things are slowly changing in Nigeria and he is watching the U.S.
Supreme Court case closely.
He says the case is an opportunity for
the U.S. to show moral leadership in the area of human rights. On the
other hand, he says, if the Supreme Court decides to uphold the laws
banning gay marriage it could increase hostility towards homosexuals in
Nigeria and other deeply conservative countries.
"In fact the kind
of crisis it will cause in countries like ours, you can't imagine it.
There is already hatred. There is phobia. They are already against
people that are perceived to be gay," he said.
Ugoh says he has
great hope that the world’s growing sympathy for gay rights is spreading
to Africa, but he also worries that if the U.S. steps back from the
trend, gay people in Africa will sink further into the shadows, making
it more difficult for aid organizations to provide health care and
support.
Legalization unlikely
However,
if the court finds in favor of gay marriage in the U.S., analysts say
it is unrealistic that gay marriage will be legalized in Nigeria any
time soon.
"I think it would take much more than that for any
serious push to happen to legalize gay marriage in Nigeria," said
Clement Nwankwo, executive director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy
Center in Abuja.
Homosexual acts are also illegal in Nigeria, he
says, and that is also not likely to change. But Nwankwo says although
it is not obvious on the streets, Nigeria is more tolerant of gays than
it used to be.
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