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

Contents:

• GAY NIGERIA: 'EVERYBODY SE ME AS AN ABOMATN'
• BLACKMAIL, PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTN: GAY RIGHTS NIGERIA
• INSI NIGERIA'S SECRET GAY CLUB
• OPN: NIGERIA IS A LD-BLOOD UNTRY FOR GAY MEN – I HAVE THE SRS TO PROVE
• LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY
• LGBTQ+ NIGERIANS ARE CELEBRATG PRI MONTH DEFIANCE OF ANTI-GAY LAW
• GAY PARTY GO AWRY EDO
• NIGERIAN POLICE ARE EXTORTG PEOPLE WHO 'LOOK GAY'
• FEATURE-LGBTQ+ NIGERIANS CELEBRATE PRI MONTH FIANCE OF ANTI-GAY LAW
• CROSS RIVER SPEAKER FUM OVER CALABAR GAY PARTY

GAY NIGERIA: 'EVERYBODY SE ME AS AN ABOMATN'

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.

BLACKMAIL, PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTN: GAY RIGHTS NIGERIA

In 2014, the Nigerian ernment passed the highly ntroversial and homophobic Same-Sex Marriage Prohibn Act. 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.

INSI NIGERIA'S SECRET GAY CLUB

One of the most famo stanc was a 2018 se where 57 men were arrted at a party Lagos unr the spicn of beg iated to a gay club. Tamuno, a 31-year-old gay man, tells me of a near-pture experience when he had gone to a party Port Harurt 2020.

For the anizers, the secury measur are put place, not agast potential miscreants or robbers but stead to keep off the police force and homophob.

YouTuber Victor Emmanuel knows first-hand how tough life is for people who are openly gay Nigeria, where LGBTQ+ relatnships and even same-sex displays of affectn are year, he was kidnapped by seven men who blackmailed, extorted, and tortured him for two days an attack that has sce left him nstantly lookg over his shoulr. ”Nigeria is a eply relig untry, where many reject homosexualy as a rptg Wtern 2014, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibn) Act was signed to law, which bars not only gay relatnships but also any public sign of same-sex affectn or membership of LGBTQ+ groups, wh punishments of up to 14 years sex is illegal more than half of Ain untri, acrdg to global LGBTQ+ rights tracker Equalx, although Gabon, Kenya, and Botswana have all crimalized same-sex relatns recent spe the risks, activists are phg to exprs themselv and mand change this June, a month which is marked around the world wh LGBTQ+ Pri ralli and parti. ”Growg VisibilyWhile there have been no nvictns unr the same-sex marriage act, rights groups, and activists say effectively sanctns ab of LGBTQ+ people and has embolned both police officers and members of the public to rry out legislatn amounts to “refully nstcted state vlence” which “exacerbat queer-phobia and prevents om havg a muny”, said Kayo Ani Somtochwu, founr of the Queer Unn for Enomic and Social Transformatn (QUEST) Mistry of Jtice and the police force did not immediately rpond to requts for 2018, a group of 47 men were arrted and later charged for allegedly jog a gay club, a se that drew ternatnal outcry and was wily seen as a tt of the men said they were at a birthday party and the se was thrown out by a judge due to the “lack of diligent prosecutn.

OPN: NIGERIA IS A LD-BLOOD UNTRY FOR GAY MEN – I HAVE THE SRS TO PROVE

”But LGBTQ+ people are growg creasgly vol and visible, wh the ter providg a space for gay-iendly films, talk shows, and rights groups barred om formally registerg as an anizatn unr the same-sex marriage law, most anizg, and support groups take place onle. Younger adults, ag 18 to 25, are 30 percent more likely to be faiar wh some who is a gay, a promisg number for future advocy, says Mr. But for Sarah Nwosu, a graduate who fs the youth mographic that is most likely to change their perceptns on gay rights over time, the law is a good thg.

Five years ago, the Nigerian ernment signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibn Act, sentially banng gay relatnships. They also claim there’s been a rise stanc of extortn and blackmail of the LGBTQI+ muny by secury a after the law passed, our rrponnt Mayeni Jon vtigat what life is really like for Nigeria’s gay muny.

LAGOS, WHERE ’S STILL A THRILL TO BE GAY

At a private party, held late at night a small Lagos hotel far om any ma road, men fd solace beg openly gay. ”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.

Acrdg to Oriye, police regularly arrt people who attend gay meet-ups, or simply for beg gay – even though isn’t illegal. But the tst afford by the closed spac is creasgly over three years, gay iends of Samson Nm* stayed at his home Lagos. “If you’re gay Nigeria, and you’re rich enough to even afford therapy, n you really tell your therapist and be open?

”Azeenarh Mohammed, a 32-year old lawyer, worked wh hundreds of gay Nigerian women for the Herich Böll Stiftung Foundatn Abuja.

LGBTQ+ NIGERIANS ARE CELEBRATG PRI MONTH DEFIANCE OF ANTI-GAY LAW

“Firstly, people have ternalised homophobia, so they say to themselv ‘Oh, this is jt a phase for me, I’ll grow out of , get married and have children. Men really experience vlent homophobia here, but I’d say a key difference for women is that, bee of our patriarchal stctur, women are easier to ntrol or domate. “You live life here as a gay person, knowg that there is no future Nigeria if you want to live an open life, but I really wanted to change that.

The legislators and senators were expectg a speech on the environment; Mohammed stead spoke on gay rights. Afterwards, some said the bill was already passed so we should move on, others were llg for me to be arrted for beg gay.

GAY PARTY GO AWRY EDO

"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. Friends and fay members of gay people uld get implited if they do not report s of same-sex unns bee they uld be seen as beg support of them. Crics of the bill also worry that health workers who provi HIV unsellg and treatment to homosexuals uld be mtg an offence as well.

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. In 2017, I started A Nasty Boy magaze to validate and affirm the liv and experienc of gay men Nigeria. 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 ARE EXTORTG PEOPLE WHO 'LOOK GAY'

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.

They acced me of beg gay and “spreadg a gay agenda, ” as they pummeled me; each punch was an asslt on who I was. 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. In Nigeria, gay men are portrayed as ncers eatg eply to the fabric of society—tumors that mt be oblerated.

The feral Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibn) Act of 2014 says anyone found guilty of homosexualy fac up to 14 years prison.

FEATURE-LGBTQ+ NIGERIANS CELEBRATE PRI MONTH FIANCE OF ANTI-GAY LAW

A 2013 PewGlobal rearch suggts 98% of Nigerians believe homosexualy should not be accepted by society.

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. Homophobia is the tie that bds a divid untry; the one thg a natn of chronic ethnic loyalti, of relig tensn, of failed ernment, n agree upon.

Growg up Nigeria, I wnsed first-hand a eply graed culture of sid hyper-masculy and vilent homophobia.

CROSS RIVER SPEAKER FUM OVER CALABAR GAY PARTY

As a child, I was characterized as a “boy-girl” even before I knew the tglg, plex bety of beg gay. In universy, I beme a social pariah and the poster child for “faggots” after beg outed by my bt iend on a mp that waged a ‘War on Homosexualy.