Gay In Nigeria: LGBT Life In One Of The World’s Most Homophobic Natns

Richard Akon found a magaze for gay men Nigeria, left him vulnerable a place where homophobia is rife. Akon wr for CNN, talkg for the first time about beg btally attacked and havg to flee the untry. * nigerian gay man *

Meanwhile, some young, wealthy gay Nigerians who spend most of their time the louche, Wternized Victoria Island sectn of Lagos -- the massive, quickly mornizg megalopolis on Nigeria’s southwtern ast -- are able to live a quasi-open life spe the vilent homophobia that l much of the rt of the Aola, a portly man his thirti who earns a most livg as a ok at a terg pany Abuja, that life of openns is difficult to said he worri about discrimatn every time he walks out the door, pecially light of a law passed this year that, should be signed by Print Goodluck Jonathan, would make the sheer act of beg gay punishable by up to 14 years prison. ”Aola’s fears are supported by statistil evince: A study of 39 natns published by the Pew Rearch Center June emed Nigeria the least-acceptg natn of the lot for gays, wh 98 percent of survey rponnts sayg society should not accept homosexualy, edgg out ultranservative Jordan by a sgle percentage Acceptg BubbleSix upper-class gay profsnals who met wh the Internatnal Bs Tim at a Victoria Island rtrant last week say that bee they mostly stay wh that neighborhood’s fairly tolerant bubble, they are largely able to avoid Aola’s nstant state of fear.

GAY NIGERIA, BLACK MALE AMERI

An Islamic sharia urt Nigeria has sentenced three gay men to ath by stong – cludg a man who was 70 years old. A Ngi urt the northern * nigerian gay man *

”Crimalizg HomosexualyBeg gay Nigeria has long meant hidg the shadows of society, but fear and anxiety among most members of the natn’s gay muny have grown markedly sce May 30, when the Nigerian Senate passed a bill makg the simple act of beg homosexual a crime punishable by as long as 14 years prison. Jonathan has not yet signed or vetoed the bill -- which was prevly passed by the Nigerian Hoe of Reprentativ -- nor has he sent a clear signal of which si he will eventually take on the ntroversial bill, upled wh legal rtrictns on gay marriage, is actually lenient pared wh the suatn faced by gays the Mlim-domated north of the natn, where Shariah Islamic law mak homosexualy a pal offense punishable some areas by stong to though the measure is not yet officially on the books, has already had a chillg effect on gay life Nigeria, acrdg to Aisha, a lbian iend of Fatima’s.

” But now, she said, there is a wily held, albe premature, belief that “’s illegal and rri a sentence” of more than a dozen years behd bars, which further timidat Nigeria’s gay populatn.

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Although Fatima nsirs Abuja to be “like gay central of Nigeria, ” the place she said she would go to “hook up wh a girl, several girls, one weekend, ” that si of gay life isn’t accsible to many homosexual rints of the pal who aren’t as well-heeled as said that due to the discrimatn he fac Abuja, he unrground channels and word-of-mouth to fd other gay people to teract wh or date. “There are people like me who accept them, but then there are lots of people who once they fd out someone is gay, they refe to have any kd of ntact wh them, ” Kgsley explaed as we sat his sedan, wag out one of Abuja’s notor “go-slow” traffic jams.

“They don’t stay groups, they’d rather rema not mixg wh other gay people, bee they don’t want other people to be able to say, ‘Those guys are gay, ’” he Of The UnknownKgsley is rare among straight Nigerians that he has a well-veloped sense of the nuanc of human sexualy, and he has chosen to unrstand and accept the gay muny rather than ri for s otherns.

INSI NIGERIA'S SECRET GAY CLUB

A large proportn of Nigerians draw their tolerance of homosexualy om relig and cultural tradns rangg om fundamental Christian and Islamic teachgs to centuri-old tribal norms. “Every woman or man is born to be attracted to the oppose sex, but I don’t know, if maybe there’s a change [gay people’s] bras somehow, there has to be a reason, ” she posed over drks. ”Azu said she has had several gay iends over the urse of her life and that she do to this day, but she still scrib gay dividuals nscendg terms that illtrate her views on their sexual orientatn.

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She said she was eply disturbed when a lleague at the ernmental office where she works who is not aware of her sexualy said a discsn once, “Gays should all be killed, ” but that such vlent remarks are rare her world, where sual ignorance is much more mon.

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And Augt, an Ogun State man was btally beaten for allegedly beg gay, as reported by the same the laws aimed at crimalizg gayns and same-sex marriage threaten to dify a new paradigm of heightened timidatn and margalizatn for the natn’s gay for urban Nigerians wh enough money, there are some hopeful signs the face of so much discrimatn and misunrstandg.

”And a small but growg number of openly gay activists speak out regularly support of gay rights Nigeria whout beg slammed wh lengthy prison terms, although they are still often harassed and attacked by dividuals for their said that spe all the challeng, life as a homosexual Nigerian n approach normalcy for members of her enomic class.

Although this artifice, pecially the boots, beme a signature part of my wardrobe, didn’t do much to protect me om the rampant and vlent homophobia problem wh -swchg, wh drsg-to-f, is not that jt do not work (the eveng I was abducted Nigeria I was wearg Caterpillar steel toe boots), shovels the moral rponsibily onto the shoulrs of victims of thoughtls bigotry. Everythg after that would be the past tense, cludg your same week the vio of the shootg ath of Ahmd Arbery as he jogged near his home Geia — which amounted to a lynchg — was posted onle, a different vio tailg yet another horrific killg of a gay man a few om my hometown Nigeria was sent to my box. Wele to queer nightlife Nigeria where, on weekends, apartments turn to gay clubs, barred wh pass-guardg doors to protect agast hoe parti, discrete rav, and clubs are now beg creasgly popular amongst young queer Nigerians.

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While there isn’t an extensive rerd of people beg found guilty for the crim Nigeria, the laws embolned many homophobic mobs who took the laws to their hands and would beat dividuals who they intified as queer and stroy spac and parti that they spected were hosted by or for queer people. Image ptn, Mohammed agreed to speak to the BBC on ndn of anonymyWhen Nigeria passed some of the tought anti-homosexualy laws Ai, the ter beme a place for the LGBT muny to nnect wh others more safely - until crimal gangs went digal too.

Acrdg to a group of activists who work wh the LGBT muny Nigeria, around 15 to 20 people ntact them each week wh siar stori to type of blackmail, where an LGBT person is entrapped, is known Nigeria's gay muny as "ko" - the exact orig of the term is unclear. Image ptn, There is an unrground gay scene Lagos, but those who take part have to be very refulEmmanuel, not his real name, scribed how he started chattg to a iend onle, but had not realised his iend's acunt had been hijacked. It banned gay clubs, troducg a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who registers, operat, or participat gay clubs, societi, and anisatns, cludg supporters of those groups.

THREE MEN SENTENCED TO ATH BY STONG FOR BEG GAY NIGERIA

In 2014, media reports of vlence, mob jtice and extortn agast LGBT people were mon and activists say there has sce been an explosn ko s sce ptn, Uyai Ikpe-Etim says some people celebrate the targetg of LGBT peopleFilmmaker Uyai Ikpe-Etim, who liv openly as a gay woman Nigeria, said blackmail agast LGBT people is "rampant". Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". "I love this place bee mak me feel at home" gatherg of members of the gay and lbian muny Lagos is held regularly, albe discreetly, but uld soon be vast majory of gay Nigerians may not be terted this kd of event but they still have to hi their sexualy this nservative already illegal, homosexualy is wily owned upon across Nigeria and has been the subject of several bills the Natnal Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibn) Bill specifilly outlaws same-sex also bans gathergs of homosexuals or any other support for gay clubs, anisatns, unns or amoro exprsns, whether secret or public.

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'Repulsive'The bill has been passed by Nigeria's Senate - the hight chamber - and is now beg reviewed by the lower chamber, the Hoe of ptn, Rashidi Williams is one of Nigeria's few openly gay human rights activistsIf approved, will be sent to the print to sign to law, after which same-sex upl uld face up to 14 years Nigerian homosexuals pla that the stigma they face is already enough punishment for their way of (not his real name), a gay man livg Lagos, is outraged by the proposed law: "How do a ernment thk that sendg someone to prison would change his or her sexual orientatn? One of Nigeria's few openly gay human rights activists, Rashidi Williams, not that the bill seeks to ban somethg which is already illegal and which no-one is publicly advotg. However, some of the doctors say they hardly ever know the sexual orientatn of those they attend to bee is not a requirement for treatment and unsellg, and even if the patients were to reveal that they were homosexuals, would not affect the qualy of healthre lawmakers have nmned vlence agast homosexuals but this has done ltle to prevent the growg anxiety among those the bill would target as s likely adoptn, whatever form, ptn, If the bill is passed, same-sex upl uld face 14 years prisonMr Williams says some gay Nigerians may seek asylum untri where homosexual people are accepted, while others will have to go the gay club, spe the jovial atmosphere, there is heightened utn, and no-one is allowed to take any thought of beg intified as beg gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr a untry where the public still turns to mob jtice hnts some that is a huge ncern for Richard (not his real name): "If you don't bee discreet and try to hi yourself, even the man on the street will want to also act on the bill bee has been passed.

NIGERIAN GAY MAN, TRAPPED & BEATEN BY GANG IN PORT HARURT NIGERIA FOR HOMOSEXUALY!

I wanted to start meangful nversatns around genr norms and masculy that speak specifilly to our reali as gay men wh a culture that is poisonoly patriarchal and eply homophobic.

NIGERIAN POLICE JAIL 5 GAY MEN AS ANTI-LGBTQ+ PERSECUTN CONTU

Agast a backdrop of adly anti-gay vlence, A Nasty Boy dared to be a haven for gay men Nigeria and, no time, received ternatnal attentn through CNN, BBC, The Guardian, The Enomist, Vogue, and others. And yet, even this gome attack pal parison to the fatal btaly many Nigerian gay men have too often experienced the form of lynchgs or pillory wh tir before they’re set on fire and burnt alive—not for terrorism or worse, but for beg gay, for beg human, a sperately homophobic untry.

A 2017 survey by The Iniative for Equal Rights (TIERS), a Nigerian-based human rights anizatn, showed 90% of Nigerians support the ntued enforcement of Nigeria’s anti-gay laws. Xeenarh Mohammed, the executive director of the Lagos-based Iniative for Equal Rights (TIERS), said the law had historilly been ed to harass and blackmail gay people but there had not been any nvictns. The acced say they were attendg a birthday Same Sex Marriage Prohibn Act, which banned gay relatnships and entrenched tolerance of sexual mori Nigerian society, was signed by Goodluck Jonathan, then print, January law ed an ternatnal outcry, wh nmnatn om global human rights anisatn and wtern ernments.

Surveys have historilly shown high levels of homophobia Nigeria, but some have poted to what mpaigners say is a tentative, growg acceptance of gay men and June, high urt judg Botswana led that laws crimalisg same-sex relatns were unnstutnal and should be stck down, a major victory for gay rights mpaigners Ai. Botswana is regard as one of Ai’s most stable and mocratic natns, but homosexualy was outlawed unr the untry’s penal of, Mozambique and the Seychell have scrapped anti-gay laws recent judg rejected the precent set by India, which last year legalised gay sex between nsentg adults, as well as by a seri of other judgments across the Commonwealth and elsewhere, and said Kenya should make s own laws to reflect s own Tanzania, thori Dar Salaam, the biggt cy, have lnched a seri of crackdowns on gay people recent years. A judge a Nigerian urt has thrown out a se agast 47 men charged wh public displays of affectn wh members of the same sex, endg what had wily been seen as a tt of the untry’s laws banng homosexual relatnships.

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TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS