D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/nigeria-moves-to-ban-g
LAGOS, Nigeria -- When a gang of men ambushed Rashidi Williams and a male
friend earlier this year, the 25-year-old gay Nigerian was too afraid to
report the attack to police or even to his family.
Doing so would only create more problems, he says, in this country where
legislators are now seeking to criminalize gay marriage.
Here in the megacity of Africa's most populous nation, Williams says
marriage though is the last thing on the minds of many gay and lesbian
Nigerians who fear physical danger in this conservative country.
"I took myself to the hospital but couldn't say why I had been beaten up
because that would have started another set of discrimination for me," said
Williams, who hurt his shoulder blade in the attack. "These things are so
underreported in Nigeria. It doesn't mean they don't exist ... People are
getting killed."
Activists fear that discrimination and violence will only increase if a bill
drawing strong support in Nigeria's legislature is passed. Under the
measure, couples who marry could face up to three years in jail, and
witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to five years
behind bars.
"If this bill passes into law, the Nigerian government will be sanctioning
even greater discrimination and violence against an already vulnerable group
," said Graeme Reid, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights
director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.
The proposed law also has drawn the interest of European Union countries,
some of which already offer Nigeria's sexual minorities asylum based on
gender identity. The British government also recently threatened to cut aid
to African countries that violate the rights of gay and lesbian citizens.
Homosexuality is already technically illegal in Nigeria, a country that may
be evenly divided between Christians and Muslims but is nearly universally
opposed to homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria's north where Islamic
Shariah law is enforced, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.
Across the African continent, many countries have made homosexuality
punishable by jail sentences. Ugandan legislators introduced a bill that
would impose the death penalty for some gays and lesbians, though it has not
been passed into law two years later. Even in South Africa, the one country
where gays can marry, lesbians have been brutally attacked and murdered.
A group of international human rights organizations earlier this month sent
a letter opposing the Nigerian bill to legislative leaders, the Nigerian
National Human Rights Commission and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan,
who has to approve the bill for it to become law.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission also fear the legislation could set back HIV
/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts in Nigeria, which has the world's
third-highest population of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Some gender experts say the bill could be an attempt to stir anti-gay
sentiment.
"If you want to whip up homophobia, I think focusing on same-sex marriage is
a very good way of going about it, just sowing the idea that there are lots
of 'those' people who want to get married, so that it's seen as attacking a
fundamental social institution," says feminist scholar Charmaine Pereira,
who is based in Nigeria's capital of Abuja.
The anti-gay marriage legislation, which is being considered for the third
time since 2006, already has sailed through two readings in Senate. A public
hearing meant to gauge public opinion on the bill saw gay rights activists
booed and provided with police escorts to leave the hall after presenting
their arguments against the proposed measure.
"I am so confident because Nigeria is a society that is very, very godly,"
said Sen. Domingo Obende, who sponsored the bill.
Opposition to same-sex marriage is stern in this society that widely views
childbearing as the ultimate goal of marriage. But a line near the end of
the bill also defines same-gender marriage as "the coming together of
persons of the same sex with the purpose of living together as husband and
wife, or for other purposes of same sexual relationships."
Some fear that definition seems to imply that even couples who live together
, without being married, could face criminal charges.
Joseph Sewedo Akoro, executive director of The Initiative for Equal Rights,
says Nigeria's few gay rights activists often ask themselves how much time
they can afford to spend trying to persuade lawmakers when ordinary people
are the main perpetrators of discrimination and violence against gays.
He cites the example of South Africa, where gays and lesbians are still
murdered and suffer discrimination even with laws in place that enshrine
their rights.
For Williams, who still lives with his parents even though they disapprove
of his sexual orientation, much work still needs to be done for Nigerians to
become more tolerant.
"Inasmuch as I want to live with my gay partner at some point, I want to be
able to do that in a country that respects that," he says.
___
Associated Press writer Bashir Adigun contributed to this report from Abuja,
Nigeria. | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 2 这都是中国人民的好朋友啊
【在 D**S 的大作中提到】
: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/nigeria-moves-to-ban-g
: LAGOS, Nigeria -- When a gang of men ambushed Rashidi Williams and a male
: friend earlier this year, the 25-year-old gay Nigerian was too afraid to
: report the attack to police or even to his family.
: Doing so would only create more problems, he says, in this country where
: legislators are now seeking to criminalize gay marriage.
: Here in the megacity of Africa's most populous nation, Williams says
: marriage though is the last thing on the minds of many gay and lesbian
: Nigerians who fear physical danger in this conservative country.
: "I took myself to the hospital but couldn't say why I had been beaten up
| D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 3 Since when?
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: 这都是中国人民的好朋友啊
| m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 4 土共一直就说这些落后的非洲国家是中国人民的好朋友啊
【在 D**S 的大作中提到】
: Since when?
| D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 5 OIC
That is China-style PC, I guess?
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: 土共一直就说这些落后的非洲国家是中国人民的好朋友啊
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