Nigeria’s Parliament has approved the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill due to be signed by President Goodluck Jonathan soon.
Both the Nigerian senate and House of representatives have reached an agreement in the wording of legislation that will cary a severe penalty for any same-sex couple who is to wed, and anyone involved in helping them.
Any couple who is married will be punished with up to 14 years in prison, and their guests will receive a potential ten. Anyone found providing services for same sex couples will face imprisonment of up to five years.
The bill will also ban any LGBT organisations, and any public display of a same sex relationship.
The UK LGBT Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has expressed its shock at the prospective legislation.
PTT’s secretary, George Broadhead, said: “Gays and lesbians already face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Sharia law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.
“It seems that there is a very real threat that this draconian bill will become law and, if it does, Nigeria will become one of the the most homophobic nations in Africa. Even in South Africa, the one country where gays can marry, lesbians have been brutally attacked and murdered. If the bill is enacted, the situation for LGBT people in Nigeria will become completely untenable, setting a precedent that would threaten all Nigerians’ rights to privacy, equality, free expression and free association.
“It is clear that the main impetus for such Draconian legislation has come from religious sources including the Anglican Church. By contrast, the Nigerian Humanist Movement which has had financial support from the PTT, has defended LGBT rights in the country and its former executive director, Leo Igwe, deserves much credit for courageously speaking up for these rights in the country’s parliament.”
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