On the 30th of May 2013, Nigeria's House of Representatives passed an "anti-gay" bill to criminalise gay marriage in Nigeria. The bill states that anyone who enters into a same sex marriage or relationship has committed an offence punishable by up to 14 years prison term. Similarly, any person who registers, operates in gay clubs, societies or indirectly makes a public show of same-sex relationship commits an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Based on my Christian beliefs, I believe that being in a gay relationship is a sin and is not any way what God intended for mankind. Despite these beliefs, I don't support the anti-gay laws passed for several reasons.

Firstly, we are all sinners and to pretend otherwise is hypocritical. God hates sodomy as much as He hates stealing, adultery, fornication and corruption. The biggest problem Nigeria faces today is corruption and not sodomy so why have our lawmakers who are not without their own sin chosen to focus on gay issues that affect a very small percentage of Nigeria's population? Stealing, fornication and adultery are no longer seen as a big deal in our Nigerian society, yet we are so quick to judge others based on their sexual preferences which is in no way harmful to others. With corruption, the masses suffer - funds meant for development, schools, hospitals are diverted to personal purses thereby depriving many of the basic needs that a Government ought to provide. Fornication and adultery equally hurt the parties involved and in Nigeria, most times these are the women. Who are the biggest "aristos" and sugar daddies in Nigeria if not these same politicians who are so quick to pass judgement on gays because they don't understand their lifestyles? I don't think any sane gay Nigerian would have contemplated same-sex marriage or civil partnership knowing fully well the stigma associated with it so essentially our lawmakers chose to kill an ant with a sledge hammer.

Secondly, women in Nigeria are probably the least protected in the world. This is a country where a man can beat a woman to near death and the most the police will do is to scold her and send her back home to her husband to beg him. I have often heard that the Nigerian police treats domestic violence cases as family issues so most women are sent back home to resolve their "family issues" when they go to report a domestic violence case. In other saner countries, domestic violence is a criminal offence. Nigeria is a country where women are thrown out of the homes they have built with their husbands and left with nothing when the man "feels like" and the woman has little or no legal standing to claim anything she might have contributed to while still married to her husband. Recently, we read about Michael Prest and the £17.5 million divorce settlement with his ex-wife many assumed to be white. It turns out she is a Nigerian but luckily for her, she lives in a developed country where women's rights are upheld and taken seriously. The English courts ruled that she was entitled to a significant portion of her husband's estate and he was liable to pay reasonable expenses for his kids. Do women have these sorts of rights in Nigeria and if so, how are they enforced to ensure that the woman and her kids' interests are protected?

Finally, a lot of our Nigerian laws are obsolete and these lawmakers should be spending their time updating our laws and ensuring that the laws of our nation reflects the rot in the modern day society. Our lawmakers seem to have ignored the more pressing laws that need to be reviewed and updated and focused their energy on an anti-gay law that we could frankly have done without. Were these same lawmakers not aware when one of them went and married a 13 year old girl from Egypt. After all the noise and controversy raised by the public and women rights group, what did the lawmakers do about it? Are Nigerian lawmakers saying that it is okay for a 13 year old girl to be forcefully married to a man old enough to be her grandpa while gay people should be imprisoned? I remember a child abuse case in Nigeria where a man raped a 5 year old girl in Abuja and he received a 1 year jail sentence and was also given the option of paying a 40,000 naira fine. I understand that the leniency of the sentence was as a result of the limit on the sentence that particular court could impose. Imagine, a society that can afford to let a child rapist off so easily ignoring the lifetime effects the rape would have on that child? Why were women and children's rights laws not prioritised before this anti-gay laws? Why was this a priority for our lawmakers when our women and children are still at their most vulnerable and have no decent laws to protect them? Truly, this anti-gay law was ill-conceived, ill-timed and very hypocritical of our lawmakers. Its about time they focus on laws that will be beneficial to us as a nation and leave gays to live their lives.

http://www.tnwmag.com/why-i-think-the-nigerian-anti-gay-laws-are-hypocritical/