Lagos, where 's still a thrill to be gay | TRUE Ai

Contents:

• GAY IN NIGERIA: LGBT LIFE IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST HOMOPHOBIC NATNS
• LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY
• 5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
• GAY JOHANNBURG

GAY IN NIGERIA: LGBT LIFE IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST HOMOPHOBIC NATNS

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Life Nigeria, one of the world’s most anti-gay natns, is a daily stggle for Aola, a closeted, workg-class homosexual man livg on the outskirts of Abuja, the natn’s small, central (not his real name) has been lled offensive nam, sulted and ostracized over assumptns about his sexualy, so he shields his te self fear that g out would only attract more tense abe. 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.

Still, they, like everyone else terviewed for this story, asked to be assigned psdonyms bee of the harsh penalti that n rult om beg intified as gay the prs. ”Fatima is not gay per se -- she scrib her sexualy as “fluid” and said she is open to relatnships wh men or women -- but she mostly dat women.

I’ve had iends whose parents kicked them out or disowned them bee they told them they were gay. ”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.

LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY

” 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. 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.

5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)

Someone you’re sure is gay troduc you to someone else who is, who troduc you to someone else who is, and so on, ” he, Aola has been threatened and sulted on numero ocsns. Kgsley, a straight iend of Aola’s who has wnsed anti-gay discrimatn of others firsthand Abuja and surroundg areas, said that such sentiments are sadly que mon Nigeria.

“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.

GAY JOHANNBURG

’”And Kgsley said the fear of beg tormented for their sexualy filtrat the social liv of his gay iends. “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. 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.

But even some highly ted, fairly secular and otherwise progrsive Nigerians simply nsir homosexualy to be transgrsive or agast nature, and therefore refe to accept . Typil is Azu, a well-traveled, affluent Lagos bswoman who simply don’t believe that a person n be born gay. “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.

“Beg gay is somethg that velops a later stage of your life, but whether we believe or not, all girls are attracted to men growg up. ”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.