Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti writes for
OkayAfrica.com. Find it below...
I’m writing to condemn the recent anti-gay bill
signed into law by our President Jonathan Goodluck.
This law – which contains penalties of up to 14 years
in prison for anyone in a same-s*x marriage or civil
union, 10 years for anyone who attends a same-s*x
wedding, 10 years for anyone involved with an LGBT
organization, and even 10 years for anyone who shows
affection for someone of the same s*x – should be
cast out. Since the law was passed, police across
Nigeria have begun arresting and torturing dozens of
our fellow citizens suspected of being gay.
Don’t
forget that in some of our states, if you are found
guilty of being gay, you could be stoned to death.
First of all, this law was unnecessary. There is not
space in the existing constitution for gay marriage.
Our constitution is very definitive of marriage as a
union between man and woman. I see the signing in
of this law for what it was: a cheap shot by an under-
achieving government to discriminate against people
because they are different.
The president of Nigeria has a PhD, so he should
understand better than most the implications of the
law. Even if he couldn’t stop the senate from passing
the bill, he had the power to delay signing it as a way
of protecting the gay community. The President has
had the Petroleum Industry Bill in front of him for
years, and he and our senators have stalled on the bill
calling for harsher punishment for corruption.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s senate has just sanctioned
pedophilia in our constitution (girls that are as young
as 9 years old can continue to be married in if they
are “physically developed enough” according to their
parents or prospective husbands) – so this the ban on
homos*xuality can hardly be a so-called “moral”
issue. This is simply a move for cheap political points.
Meanwhile, people’s lives hang in the balance.
Today I am writing this not as a fight for “gay rights”,
I am fighting for all rights. People should be allowed
to express themselves freely and this includes their
s*xuality. I believe all gay people should come out and
organize openly. I expect that society should allow
them live their lives as they please.
It’s not a cultural thing – it’s a s*xual thing. I have
even heard people say it’s Western culture imposed
on us and if the West doesn’t recognize polygamy we
should not accept homos*xuality. This is the kind of
scary ignorance that this kind of law will foster. (I can
say for a fact that the constitution of Nigeria does not
recognize polygamy. We have customary laws that are
non-binding, but our secular courts and national
constitution does not allow polygamy even though it’s
“our culture.”)
I believe in education as the answer to any problem
and I know this law does not educate positively. It
just criminalizes and institutionalizes hate towards
the gay community.
Here’s a call to action: I believe the gay community
should come out! They need to put love above fear. I
also believe that gay people in Africa not just Nigeria
who are being targeted like this should put pressure
on the West by claiming asylum in their countries. I
think we are about to see a new wave of s*xual
refugees!
Love over fear should be the way forward.
- Seun Kuti
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