The Anti-Gay Bill; My Open Minded Thoughts

In a world of over a billion people, the recent passage of the anti-gay bill in Nigeria can be said to be a blatant example of the failure of democracy in the country. Although a very well accepted bill by the Nigerian populace which sees homosexuality as Unafrican and an unnatural act, one begins to wonder if the country honestly expects a population of over 150 million inhabitants to be of the same characteristics?



Man is often shaped by his social cultural context which goes a long way in affecting his orientation about life and can be an influencing factor of his sexual orientation on whether he is homosexual or heterosexual. Why then do we make laws to repeal the homosexual act when some people do not have a control over who they are? It is easy to sit on our high horses and judge based on the grounds of religion or morality that being homosexual is a sin, a crime, a taboo or an abomination but I beg to ask the question what in itself constitutes a crime? Isn’t a crime supposed to have an offender and a victim? Since when did two consenting adults deciding to love one another become a crime when they are both in agreement? Isn’t the early child marriage a crime against humanity in itself, where we cannot protect the innocence of our young ones but we find it easy to discriminate against others based on their sexuality?

While many people will be quick to say that it is unnatural and a taboo, I beg once again to ask the question that isn’t it since the beginning of time that the gays have existed among us? The fear of coming out based on the reactions of the people has kept them silent and in a society where we are supposed to protect the minority, we make them legal outcast because they don’t fit into the order of things. It is easier to point fingers and judge someone we see as different from us instead of accepting them for their ‘awkwardness’. It is even funny to think that the people that the law is meant for have not made much moves to advocate to get married and while the lawmakers can spend the tax payers money on more valuable ventures, we waste time on issues of sexuality that should be a personal concern. What people decide to do in their bedrooms should be their business so long two consenting adults are involved and nobody is getting hurt by what they do.

Since when did religion in itself become a basis for judging others when there are different holy books by which the religions of the world operates by? The religions of the world have different perspectives as to what life is and since Nigerian in itself does not have a uniformed religion and boasting of different ethnic groups, can we honestly judge people on that? The bible judges fornication, adultery and divorce as sins but no law of the land is yet to criminalize any of these acts?

Whatever happened to the doctrine of live and let live? We talk about homosexuality being a western act that the foreign community is trying to impose on us but do we honestly believe in that? The truth is that every Nigerian knows one gay person whether open or closeted but we refuse to acknowledge it because we are not ready to open our mind to the possibility that it could be true and every bit an African thing. Homosexuality is not and will never be a racial issue.

The law is a breeding ground for an already hostile environment where the gays are discriminated against and considered to be freaks of nature. In the wake of the passage of the bill, there have been several reports of attacks and gay hate attacks on suspected homosexual members of the society and it brings to mind the question; where is the justice in that? In a country where the people are frustrated and suffering, they have always needed something to vent out their hate on and one very effective way of burning the bitterness, anger and pangs of sorrow and the scars of poverty has been jungle justice. Countless lives have been lost to jungle justice in Nigeria prominent among which was the case of the Aluu Four who were brutally murdered in broad daylight by blood thirsty Nigerians in the name of justice. Let’s not forget the case of the two women (mother and child) who went through dehumanizing torture for allegedly stealing in the market. These are but cases of suspected thieves not to now talk of people who are believed to be unnatural in their choice of lifestyle. The hate for the LGBT community is already enough barrier to prevent members of that community to think of coming out as openly gay and the case of Bisi Alimi is enough proof. Bisi Alimi came out as the first openly Nigerian gay man in 2004 on Funmi Iyanda’s show on the NTA network. His announcement came as a public shock and caused much outrage which led to his being attacked in his house and he had to flee the country for the fear of his life and currently resides in the United States of America where he was offered asylum. Perhaps our legislators feel they need to take action to prove to the international community that Nigeria is a sovereign nation that can make its own laws and decisions without foreign intervention but in the making of that law did it consider the consequence upon the community that the law was meant for? While it is easy to sit on our high horses and judge based on religious, moral, natural or personal beliefs that being gay is wrong, one has to consider the fact that these people whether we like it or not are still a part of the country and rather than discriminate against them, the government should also find a way in reaching out to them.

While scientifically it has been proven that some people are born gay, it is without say that some people turn gay of their own accord or due to some influence or the other everybody has a role to play in ensuring the sanity of our community. If Nigerians can cry out against laws as the early child marriage, or the fuel subsidy issue, we should also be able to stand united and correct the erring members of our society in love and not discrimination.

P.S: This post has nothing to do with the sexual orientation of the writer and does not intend to act as an advocacy for gay people.


Poshkid Gidigenius is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Yaba College of Technology. He currently majors in English at the University of Lagos and you can follow on Twitter and Instagram @gidigenius