Blackmail, prejudice and persecutn: gay rights Nigeria | Global velopment | The Guardian

Contents:

• LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY
• INSI NIGERIA'S SECRET GAY CLUB
• GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGOS (CY)
• THE NIGERIANS LURED TO A TRAP AND BLACKMAILED FOR BEG GAY
• GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, BISI ALIMI TO OPEN CLUB LAGOS
• I WILL OWN A GAY CLUB IN LAGOS – BISI ALIMI
• GAY IN NIGERIA: LGBT LIFE IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST HOMOPHOBIC NATNS
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS LAGOS
• SECRET GAY CLUB INSI NIGERIA
• BLACKMAIL, PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTN: GAY RIGHTS NIGERIA
• JUDGE DISMISS CASE AGAST 47 MEN CHARGED UNR NIGERIA’S ANTI-GAY LAW

LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY

The SSMPA also impos a 10-year prison sentence on anyone who registers or participat gay clubs or anisatns, as well anyone who shows support for the activi of such anisatns. He also knows that if any vlence breaks out, then n’t be reported – the ey of the Nigerian law, homosexualy is a much worse the future holds for Jordan – and for the rt of Nigeria’s LGBTQ muny – is unclear. Sce I’m so magic and get to pick and choose om the people who flock to me (or I go through them all if I’m feelg slutty) I need to do some diggg on what tak to hook up gay Lagos.

"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. '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.

INSI NIGERIA'S SECRET GAY CLUB

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. 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.

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. To lote the bt and most takg place Gay Nightlife Lagos (Cy) you uld beg your search at Menkarta and unver by far the most upbeat and hip your area by lookg by way of the products unr.

Gay Nightlife Lagos (Cy) is not ad if you look via the elements listed below which have been place llectively for you personally by Menkarta A number of people like gay clubs that are chiller, and others love on that happen to be far more off the wall, what ever you like you'll be able to acquire 's a good ncept to fd several gay clubs your area as every a sgle livers s personal unique blend of people and will disver gay clubs for every sgle certaly one of each and every age and a few are even signed for those who are gay clubs are enormo and actually n match hundreds or thoands of people today and rock all eveng long. Clost gay spots to Lagos (Cy) Ikeja, lagos [Ikeja]You will no way get bored se you check out Ikeja, lagos, the number of activi available 's nstantly alterg so you are gog to no way get bored this cy. There are lerally gay lotns every sgle key cy or town exactly where 's possible to vis meet new many people and unver all the everyday ems and servic you may need to survive.

GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGOS (CY)

There's nothg at all much better than fdg a suable gay associatn your lotn for what ever you are to, might be the most beneficial way for you to allow you to get experience. For those wh their ears to the ground, mblgs and mours about gays and their damned activi are beg ramparts the cy of Lagos so much so that discerng members of the public n now ppot some of the lotns where they e as renzvo for pick-up or meet-up. A Sunday Exprs vtigatns me up wh credible fdgs that dite that a clter of hangouts at Maza-maza, a nsely populated area at Mile Two along the Badagry exprs way is currently the beehive of gay activi.

In the urse of the vtigatn, Sunday Exprs enuntered a gang of four young men who uld be referred to as “gay bters” based on their nontatnal enunters wh the “men of sodomy. For Peter, the most madng part of the episo was the noisome hab of one of the gays who lik sendg him pictur of his erect manhood and other exposed parts of his body and also promptg him to do same, after his promise of sh and other enticg material thgs failed.

THE NIGERIANS LURED TO A TRAP AND BLACKMAILED FOR BEG GAY

Girly voic, girlish ga, dandy drsg and over-the-moon reactn to well-built guys – the are the tell-tal signs of a gay, but the four young men are of the opn that fdg a gay now is as simple as abc. 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.

GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST, BISI ALIMI TO OPEN CLUB LAGOS

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". 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.

I WILL OWN A GAY CLUB IN LAGOS – BISI ALIMI

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.

”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.

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

” 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.

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS LAGOS

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. “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.

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.

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.

SECRET GAY CLUB INSI NIGERIA

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.

”Aisha poted to another promisg trend, which Abuja and certa parts of Lagos n be much safer for moneyed gays than elsewhere the untry, although limatns exist and endure. ”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. 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 prison.

BLACKMAIL, PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTN: GAY RIGHTS NIGERIA

Kunle (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 offered. Some 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, approach.

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 unrground. ”The Same Sex Marriage Prohibn Act, which banned gay relatnships and entrenched tolerance to sexual mori Nigerian society, was signed by Print Goodluck Jonathan January 2014.

JUDGE DISMISS CASE AGAST 47 MEN CHARGED UNR NIGERIA’S ANTI-GAY LAW

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. The Nigerian law banng gay marriage, punishable by up to 14 years prison, and same-sex “amoro relatnships”, prompted an ternatnal outcry when me to force unr former Print Goodluck Jonathan 2014. 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.