Nigerian Bill Defines Gay Roommates as "Married," Inflicts Prison Penalty

Under a proposed new law in Nigeria, same-sex marriage would consist of gays simply living together--and would be punishable by three years in prison.

The law would extend new powers to the police to crack down on anyone thought to be gay, reported the BBC in an article posted online Mar. 11.

Advocates of the country's gay and lesbian population stood against the bill, with the Queer Alliance of Nigeria's Rashidi Williams addressing a government committee with plea not to enhance the nation's existing anti-gay legislation with a law that would essentially make it a crime for gays to share living space by defining the sharing of housing as "gay marriage."

Existing law in the Christian part of the country penalizes gays with 14 years in prison, while in Muslim areas gays face being stoned to death for their sexuality.

As reported earlier at EDGE, some, such as exiled Davis Mac-Iyalla, who runs Changing Attitude Nigeria, charge that the Nigerian police are already a "law unto themselves," engaging in "mob violence and unofficial actions" that include murdering and assaulting gays and others.

A U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor report notes that such abuses are widespread in the Nigerian government, marked by "politically motivated killings by security forces, arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention" and official "restrictions on speech, press, assembly, religion and movement."

"The real threat of death or serious injury is not from legal actions by the state, but from mob violence and unofficial actions by the police who are a law unto themselves," says Davis Mac-Iyalla.

"In that way, there is very little difference between [the Muslim] North and [the Christian] South."

Added Mac-Iyalla, "One of the few common perspectives between Islam and popular Christianity in Nigeria is a hatred of homosexuality."

While Sharia law, based on Muslim religious beliefs, typically is hostile toward gays, Christianity is divided on the issue, with some Christian sects accepting gays while others reject them out of hand.

In Nigeria, even the country's branch of the Anglican faith, which in developed countries is often gay-friendly, is overtly anti-gay, as is the nation's Anglican archbishop, Peter Akinola.

Akinola has worked alongside anti-gay Episcopalian factions in the United States, some of which have allied themselves with the Nigerian branch of the church rather than accept gays into its ranks.

Despite the religious and political forces arrayed against him and other gays, Williams spoke out before the government committee.

Testified the 23-year-old Williams, "This bill is not necessary; we see no reason why people should be criminalized.

"I did not choose to be gay," Williams continued. "It is trial enough to live in this country--we should not create more laws to make us suffer."

In addition to defining two gay people cohabiting as a "gay marriage," the proposed law also provides a five-year prison penalty for anyone who "witnesses, abet[s] and aids the solemnization" of a ceremony in which a same-sex couple profess their devotion and commitment, the BBC reported.

The country's gay and lesbian advocates worry that the bill would enable police to target GLBT activists, not simply apply to couples who seek to solemnize their relationship or gay people who share living space.

Without saying how, advocates of the bill charged that same-sex couples entering into such private understandings together were a threat to the integrity of heterosexual marriages in Nigeria.

Said a member of the Daughters of Sarah church, Pius Akubo, "In the Bible it says homosexuals are criminals."

The Catholic church is favor of the new law, according to the Rev. Patrick Alumake, who told the government committee, "There are wild, weird, ways of life that are affecting our own culture very negatively, we have people who either by way of the media or traveling around the world have allowed new ideas [into the country] which are harmful to our nation and our belief."

Said Mayor Eze, a Nigerian congressman and the sponsor of the anti-gay bill, "If you are not careful and allow the family institution to break down, and the consequences will be on all of us."

Church members dressed their children in T-shirts emblazoned with the slogans "Same sex marriage is un-natural and un-African" and "Same sex marriage is an abomination," the article said.

The shirts were distributed by the church the Daughters of Sarah. A member of the church, Ekaette Ettang, offered a standard disclaimer and rationale for the church's support of the proposed legislation, saying, "We don't hate gay people, but this is the public's opinion and we have the right to speak."

GLBT advocates, however, point out that anti-gay sentiment in Nigeria often involves violence against gay individuals. Even rumors of involvement in so-called "gay weddings" are enough to send people into hiding, while such "weddings" (which gay attendees say are simply parties) have led to mass arrests and headlines.