News :: GLBT

Nigeria: Hotbed of Homophobic Violence

by Scott Stiffler
EDGE Contributor
Thursday Apr 17, 2008
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Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola has worked tirelessly to terrorize LGBT Nigerians. Now, he’s taken his act on the road--to the U.S., to head an anti-gay breakaway mega-archdiocese.
Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola has worked tirelessly to terrorize LGBT Nigerians. Now, he’s taken his act on the road--to the U.S., to head an anti-gay breakaway mega-archdiocese.  

Even in Africa--a continent not known for its gay-friendly cultures or governments---Nigeria stands out for the virulence and violence against gay men in particular as well as lesbians.

The cultural residue of colonial occupation and political maneuvering encouraged by the country’s influential Christian and Muslim faiths makes Nigeria one of the most challenging African nations in which to live openly as a homosexual. A federal republic whose 36 states and capital territory are home to over 140 million people, Nigeria’s current leader is Umaru Musa Yar’Adu, whose April, 2007 election to a four-year term was characterized by a U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor report as "marred by massive fraud, vote rigging and political violence."

That report also noted "government officials at all levels" committing abuses, including "politically motivated killings by security forces, arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention" as well as "restrictions on speech, press, assembly, religion and movement." Homosexuality, illegal under federal law, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In northern Muslim states, which observe Sharia law, those found guilty of homosexual intercourse can receive death by stoning.

Authorization by the governor is required for a sentence to be carried out. While this has yet to happen, convicted homosexuals can expect to spend the rest of their lives on Death Row. In the Christian-dominated south, things are not much better.

"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, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria. "In that way, there is very little difference between North and South."

Mac-Iyalla, currently living in exile, emphasizes another troublesome similarity between the Christian south and a Muslim north: "One of the few common perspectives between Islam and popular Christianity in Nigeria is a hatred of homosexuality."

Rev. Pat Bumgardner, global justice ministry chair of Metropolitan Community Churches (one of the few U.S. organizations on the ground in Nigeria), observes, "Even if there weren’t a Christian-Muslim split, the situation would still be complicated by the fact that the primary religious voices are fundamentalist."

The MCC, a Protestant denomination that was founded to be gay friendly, is fighting, as Bumgardner puts it, "to put a different face on religion and say fundamentalists don’t represent people of all faith. It is possible to be Christian and gay and believe that is good."

MCC works mostly in the capital, the sprawling city of Lagos. Its House of Rainbow is a community of very young gay men, for whom MCC offers a spiritual home and a safe space to be themselves "in a country where just to exist is a criminal act and punishable in some very extreme ways." House of Rainbow also serves as a hiding place where LGBT Nigerians receive counseling and support from others who are gay.

Those attempting to live openly face hostile society and laws. They’ve become political footballs for various forces, especially Peter Akinola, the Anglican archbishop of Nigeria. Akinola recently served as president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the umbrella group for most of the churches of Nigeria.

Now, Akinola is aligning himself with anti-gay Episcopalians in the U.S. and is starting a breakaway denomination. Mike Hersee of Changing Attitude Nigeria, believes Akinola is using the issue of homosexuality: "It’s power dressed up as morality." Hersee notes that Akinola’s power grab is happening in a place where "religion holds much greater sway than it does in more developed countries. This influences all levels of society, including politics."

Christians & Muslims United in Hate
Homosexuality also serves as a rare source of agreement between Islam and Christianity. Hersee describes both religions, as practiced in Nigeria, as being "particularly hard on homosexuality as a convenient way of bonding between Nigerians across the whole country, and also as a way of maintaining the appearance of being vigilant against destructive forces."

A Sept. 7, 2007, report from the German journal Gay Republic Daily, recounted how the newly appointed Bishop Orama of Uyo described gay people as "insane, satanic and not fit to live." He only claimed it to be a misreporting of what was actually said several days after the Archbishop of Canterbury stepped in to condemn the comments. Mac-Iyalla believes Uyo only refuted his comments because of the unexpected furor they created outside Nigeria.


Next: Christians & Muslims United in Hate



Comments

  • Anonymous, 2008-04-20 01:31:34

    Nigeria is not a civilized country but a country which is a Society of Criminals-the more socio-pathic one is the better one fits in there.So it is no surprise that this so-called Archbishop of the Anglican Church would try to blackmail the Anglican Church and the rest of the world. Peter is the most ignorant unchristian man that I know and is responsible for the strife that has occurred in the Episcopal Church since Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of New Hampshire. (The Episcopal Church takes pride in having the best and most well educated clergy of any denomination but Peter’s ignorance is medieval and at the level of a Southern Baptist Preacher who has never been to seminary let alone graduated from Junior High). Peter does not like women as clergy and forget gay clergy such as Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who has done an outstanding job and is far more a Christian than criminal Akinola will ever be and has refused to take communion with Katherine Jeffers, Presiding Bishop of the United States and has had her disinvited to Lambeth Palace which is the Anglican equivalent of the Vatican. Peter ought to be excommunicated from the Anglican Church (Episcopal) and forbidden to ever ordain or perform Anglican Services ever again. I for one do not wish to see him allowed to come into the United States as he has already caused far too many problems, here, and hope that Customs does not allow him in the Country. He is the root of all evil and dissension within the Episcopal and Anglican World Body of Churches. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury does not seem to be inclined to do what he should about getting rid of Peter and seems like he is afraid that if he does--- this Devil will try to steal all the rest of the Anglican World and put it under his control. Peter Akinola ought to be arrested and thrown prison for the rest of his life as a murderer, inciter and major human rights violator. He has the blood of more than 20 gay men,at the very least, on his hands ---their only crime, like the executed teens in Iran, was simply to admit that they were in love with each other. Had this been the day of Henry VIII; there would be a good possibility that Peter would find himself in the Tower and his head on the chopping block for trying to set himself up as Pope, trying to overthrow his King as well as disobeyance of his King. In the Anglican Church; the English Monarch is titular head but the Archbishop of Canterbury is the actual head of the Church. Peter joined hands with the extreme Islamic Sharia factions of Nigeria to get the death penalty passed at the National Level in Nigeria. Peter’s extreamism makes the most rabid anti-gay Southern Baptist fundamentalist extremist look like a harmless pet. Anyone who is convicted of being gay or admits that they are will be and usually are sentenced to death as a Capital crime----a legal form of murder. Peter is also responsible for the excommunication of several US Bishops for abandoning the Episcopal Church and trying to steal the Church property from the Episcopal Church.Nigeria has one of the world’s worse records for human rights-women have no rights and can be buried alive for even suspicion of adultery-such as being pregnant and being left a widow by ones husband before the baby is born. So think of anyone who might be accused of being gay as a political ploy to get rid of them because Peter had some horrid Law passed that says gay people can be legally murdered in Nigeria simply because they were born gay. The Ten Commandments, which are a part of the Anglican Litugy says "Thou shalt not do no murder."


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