Leo Igwe wrote on homosexuality or same sex marriage on 23rd June, 2009. I find his article insightful and highly revealing just as much as I find it disturbing.

My worries precede from the distortion of morality and cultural values of the Igbo communities in the article. Igwe failed to address these two issues in his thought or perhaps, to be safer, avoided to express them and establish the relativity between the Igbo cultural values and this practice of same sex marriage.

The article also, adopted the one-sided defensive approach. The writer seemed more to defend the right of the persons excluding the socio-cultural context.

My worries border on the deep intellectual gap in the literature.

Read on...you will discover how and why.

"One of the contentious issues in the debate over homosexuality and same sex marriage is whether a marriage between persons of the same gender is totally alien to African culture and tradition. Those opposing same sex marriage have continued to argue that same gender union is foreign to Africa. On the contrary, I have tried to draw their attention to the fact that there is a strain of the same gender marriage in African tradition, particularly in Igboland. And that we should not rush to deny this, or pretend it does not exist or just sweep it under the carpet in the quest to establish that same gender marriage is alien to the African continent, and must be banned.

I hail from Mbaise in Imo State in Southern Nigeria. Traditionally, in my community, marriage is taken to be a union between a man and a woman as the case may be. But there are circumstances where a marriage between a woman and a woman is permissible.

In a situation where a woman has no son or no child, if the husband dies, it is culturally allowed for her to marry a wife. And in this case, she becomes the husband. Like in every case of marriage, this woman goes out, inquires and gets a wife of her choice. She pays her dowry and fulfills other traditional rites as it is done when a man is marrying a woman.

“Like in every case of marriage, this woman goes out, inquires and gets a wife of her choice.”

After that, the woman brings her "wife" home and they start living together as "husband" and "wife." Nobody frowns at it. To have children, both the "woman-husband" and "woman-wife" will agree to allow a man from the same village or neighboring town to sleep with the wife.

The children born by the wife bear the family name of the woman-husband, not that of the man responsible for the pregnancy. I want to add here that the men who sleep with such wives in most cases are married men. And normally it is regarded as immoral, in fact it is a taboo for a married man to sleep with or "father" children from another woman. But in this case an act normally taken to be immoral is allowed.

This is a situation where people are permitted to break taboos and deviate from traditions. This marriage practice pre-dates Christianity and the so- called western culture which most people today blame for all the moral and cultural wrongs in Africa. The same gender marriage is still practiced till date. In other words, there are some families today in Igboland where women are both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.

There are some homes where woman-husbands are living happily with their woman-wives, though there are not many such families or marriages. Such unconventional marriages and families are in the minority. The fact is that they exist. The fact is that they are part of the local tradition and culture. They are not imports from the West. And this has in no way undermined social cohesion, public order and morality or family values.

“There are some families today in Igboland where women are both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.”

Some people have tried to argue that this is not really a case of gender marriage because a man comes in to impregnate the wife. But, traditionally, it is the case and it is known as such. It is a case where a woman marries a woman.
The man who impregnates the wife does not come into the picture at all. He has no family responsibility. His duty is only to supply sperm. The family is responsible for the woman-husband and wife.

Some say that same gender unions destroy family values and undermine the upbringing of children. It should be emphasized that children in this case are brought up in an environment where both "parents" are females. And they grow up to be normal children. Some say because child bearing is involved, then it is not same gender marriage. But my response is this: whether for procreation or for pleasure, it is same gender marriage. And it is the couples, not the state that decides whether to marry for procreation and or for pleasure or for any other purpose they deem fit.
Complete reading: http://igbobia.com/?q=igbo-culture-permits-homosexualityigbos-practice-it-leo-igwes-discovery.html

Following

Are you calling my people, anus driller?

You just misrepresented facts

HungerBAD:
Following

Me too.

In England the Queen is also Duke (not Duchess) of Lancaster. So, OP, what do you accuse England of?

The write up is misleading at best.

There is a huge difference between what the same sex marriage that is under contention entails and what the duty(sexual) of the "woman-husband" to her wife is in Igbo culture.

The main purpose of the Igbo same sex marriage is child bearing which is in essence different from the roles that partners play in same sex marriage.

OP, modify the heading.
that practice is what sarah did with Abraham, she could not conceive,so she brought haggai to Abraham,Abraham slept with her and she became pregnant.

How is that homosexuality or indeed any format of sexuality?

woodcook:
The write up is misleading at best.

There is a huge difference between what the same sex marriage that is under contention entails and what the duty(sexual) of the "woman-husband" to her wife is in Igbo culture.

The main purpose of the Igbo same sex marriage is child bearing which is in essence different from the roles that partners play in same sex marriage.

Exactly. wrong title there.
That practice is A barren woman marrying a woman for her husband for child bearing.

Na wa for weird interpretations. How can a story of a man sleeping with a woman be titled homosexuality?

wrong headline and old irresponsible some fools are already masturbating
CarlosTheJackal nwanne m i can sight you peeping
our old fool is loosing his mind to us "kids"
Tufiakwa

Buharimustgo:
You just misrepresented facts

Morons will be morons. This is a gross injustice by the author and an immense insult.

I saw omenkalives that's why i rushed in here. After reading the article i just hissed and walked away.



Noble Igwe should marry a man with full beards like him & donate his anus for him to burrow. What he wrote is different from Homosexualism so omenkalives go and sit down andd look for another igbo topic to whine on

obailala:
Na wa for weird interpretations. How can a story of a man sleeping with a woman be titled homosexuality?

the op is just being mischievious

CarlosTheJackal:
I saw omenkalives that's why i rushed in here. After reading the article i just hissed and walked away.



Noble Igwe should marry a man with full beards like him & donate his anus for him to burrow. What he wrote is different from Homosexualism so omenkalives go and sit down andd look for another igbo topic to whine on

lol

you're just a terrorist to our "old man"
i do envy you bro

omenkaLives:
Me too.

commenting without reading
a typical case of illiteracy

otunnei:
lol

you're just a terrorist to our "old man"
i do envy you bro

omenkalives is my bosom friend that i love sending to NL prison

otunnei:

hahahahahahaha you be correct terrorist

I love omenkalives
you love omenkalives
we love omenkalives

Omenka said I'm You.


Iroh is it true



Progressive01 I'm around



Omenkalives, I'm here send your boys to come

CarlosTheJackal:
Omenka said I'm You.


Iroh is it true



Progressive01 I'm around



Omenkalives, I'm here send your boys to come

the "old man" is soo confused and paranoid that he's afraid of his shadows too
he never jam kodo
we're just warming up
thank God for my latest discovery
that Iroh guy na confirmed "old man" seriously in need of the affections of we "kids"
and we'll make sure we give him 100% affections

otunnei:

the "old man" is soo confused and paranoid that he's afraid of his shadows too
he never jam kodo
we're just warming up
thank God for my latest discovery
that Iroh guy na confirmed "old man" seriously in need of the affections of we "kids"
and we'll make sure we give him 100% affections

Ask him about the girl he engaged and post his pictures here in 2015 using his Iroh moniker



I have his file and I'm just keeping him quiet.

CarlosTheJackal:
Ask him about the girl he engaged and post his pictures here in 2015 using his Iroh moniker



I have his file and I'm just keeping him quiet.

Where have you been? Banned?

ephi123:


Where have you been? Banned?

Yes. I went for one Anambra guy that loves insulting everyone that doesnt agree with him.



Im back for some days.

CarlosTheJackal:
Yes. I went for one Anambra guy that loves insulting everyone that doesnt agree with him.



Im back for some days.

Cool, welcome back.

I wonder how many people read the article to finish...Naija youths...God bless our generation!!

I wonder how many people read the article to finish...Naija youths...God bless our generation!!

Amarabae:

Exactly. wrong title there.
That practice is A barren woman marrying a woman for her husband for child bearing.

It is sad how people will post misleading info just to score a cheap jab at people.

woodcook:
The write up is misleading at best.

There is a huge difference between what the same sex marriage that is under contention entails and what the duty(sexual) of the "woman-husband" to her wife is in Igbo culture.

The main purpose of the Igbo same sex marriage is child bearing which is in essence different from the roles that partners play in same sex marriage.

If a woman is unable to bear child with a man the solution does not rest in intimacy with a woman. She needs sperm, woman does not produce sperm.

What other excuse do you have?

OPCNAIRALAND:


If a woman is unable to bear child with a man the solution does not rest in intimacy with a woman. She needs sperm, woman does not produce sperm.

What other excuse do you have?

Who told you this type of marriage necessarily involved intimacy between the 'woman-husband' and the wife?

A woman wants a child, but can't have one. She goes and marries a younger woman. She enters into an agreement with a man to impregnatldren for her. That's how it worked. It's basically an early form of surrogacy.

What the OP wrote down here is absolutely true.

I've heard of several instances of this happening.

However it usually happens when a family has no male child to ensure the continued survival of the family's name and compound (Ka Ama ha ghara ichi) a daughter can be considered to be a man and given the full status of men in the community. She then proceeds to marry a "wife" another woman who would bear children for her family.

Now this woman now considered as man may be already married to another man in another village that though won't stop her from marrying her "wife" for her family.

Now it's not clear whether any form of homo-lez relationships develops between the women, Igbo tradition is silent on that matter. But the woman can conceive through any man of her choosing and the children would belong to the woman-man's family and carry on their name.

The corresponding case i.e. practice of marriage between a man and another fellow man is however unknown.