Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Nigeria’s anti-gay law is a crime against reason

this is true. there is nothing Natural in being gay, any more than there is anything Natural in being heterosexual. there are, however, dominant sexual orientations, and as we are raised into societies where we are oriented by our upbringings and surroundings, heterosexuality becomes normed and naturalized.
you don't have to believe this, but unless you actually bother to study psychoanalysis, you will be speaking out of a mind set that has already been formed to naturalize heterosexuality as the norm.
if anyone needs help with counseling and rehabilitation, it is people who want to counsel and rehabilitate those who can't accept racial, sexual and gender, age, class, and other forms of difference, and who wishes to establish priorities for their own particular sense of identity.

what is needed is tolerance, not high-sounding forms of bigotry that disguise themselves as being helpful when their true goal is to erase difference.
and sometimes that erasure takes the form of emprisonment or death.
(a historical reminder of when the racial purists of hitler's germany decided to erase difference, they put blacks, gays, gypsies, communists, and jews in concentration camps, and sought to eliminate them completely. i am sure those people would have been oh so happy to have had counseling and rehabilitation!)
i want to thank the signatees to the petition below. it is both morally right and brave to have done so.
ken harrow
 

There is actually nothing NATURAL in being Gay.  It is truly a psychological twist that thwarts some people's perception to the extent that they begin to see themselves as being eclectic and superior in their sexual predilection.  Such persons need assistance and that is what the anti-gay law seeks to do in Nigeria. In addition to the law however, the government should go further by establishing Counseling and Rehabilitation Centres for such patients. 

On Saturday, 18 January 2014, 14:43, Chido Onumah <conumah@hotmail.com> wrote:

Nigeria's anti-gay law is a crime against reason

Months after it was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, a bill that criminalizes homosexual relationships in Nigeria has been signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. The President gave his assent to the bill, which stipulates lengthy jail terms, both for same-sex marriage and public expression of same-sex intimacy, despite pressure from local and international social rights and public health advocacy groups.

There have been criticisms of the law in Nigeria, where antipathy towards homosexuality and LGBT people, stoked by a convenient alliance of the state, the clergy, and the rump of the mainstream media, runs deep.

We, the undersigned, wish to ally ourselves with these voices of reason. We unreservedly condemn the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Law and urge civil society and human rights groups to start a campaign that we hope will soon result in its abolition. We also urge the eminent personages across the world who have condemned the so-called law to go beyond diplomatic gestures and put pressures on the Nigerian government wherever they can. Specifically, the United States and the United Kingdom should, forthwith, impose diplomatic sanctions (e.g., denial of visas) on all Nigerian functionaries, including journalists, the clergy, and policymakers associated with the passing of the law.

There are many reasons why every right-thinking person should oppose this law.

First, it is based on a spurious, uninformed and one-dimensional reading of 'African culture.' Second, it criminalizes a section of Nigerians for nothing other than their natural sexual inclination. Third, it ignores the fruits of many decades of scientific research which proves decisively that homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality. Fourth, the law threatens to reverse the gains made by programs aimed at fighting the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the country.

Fifth, it is absurd in terms of the jail time it stipulates for those who associate with LGBT people. Sixth, it casts Nigeria in a bad light for no good reason, putting it in the vulgar company of other countries where homosexuality is criminalized. Seventh, it gives law enforcement agents an open check to go after innocent Nigerians in the name of upholding the law. Finally, the law impinges on Nigerians' freedom of speech and association, and expressly violates the rights of minorities in a free and democratic society.

It is not the business of any state, let along the Nigerian state, to interpose itself in the private affairs of two consenting adults. Any human act or practice that does not infringe on the freedom of others cannot and should not be criminalized. Homosexuality does not harm us as a society and people. It is the hypocrisy, venality, and corruption that pervade our society that are the source of our problems.

 Signed:

Ebenezer Obadare, Lawrence, Kansas, USA;   Akin Adesokan, Bloomington, Indiana, USA;    Wale Adebanwi, Davis, California, USA;  Lola Shoneyin, Abeokuta, Nigeria;  Jude Dibia, Lagos, Nigeria;  Jeremy Weate, Abuja, Nigeria;  Chido Onumah, Abuja, Nigeria;  Amatoritsero Ede, Ottawa, Canada;  Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, Brooklyn, New York, USA;  Olufemi Taiwo, Ithaca, New York, USA;  Tejumola Olaniyan, Madison, Wisconsin, USA;  Ike Anya, London, UK;  Kunle Ajibade, Lagos, Nigeria,;  Moradewun Adejunmobi, California, USA;   Sean Jacobs, Brooklyn, New York, USA;   Adeleke Adeeko, Ilorin, Nigeria;   Olakunle George, Providence, Rhode Island, USA;  Wendy Willems, London, UK;   Ikhide R. Ikheloa, Maryland, USA;   Rudolf Okonkwo, New York, USA;   Jide Wintoki, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

 

Regards,
Chido Onumah
Coordinator, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy,
P.O.Box 6856, Wuse 11, Abuja, Nigeria
www.africmil.org
+234-7043202605

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu