Saturday, December 03, 2011 4:10:16 AM
Nigeria gay rights crackdown worries US
AFP
2011-12-02 22:37
Lagos - The United States expressed concern on Friday over legislation in Nigeria that seeks to outlaw gay marriage and organisations as well as ban public displays of affection between homosexual couples.
"The United States is concerned about reports of legislation in Nigeria that would restrict expression, assembly or organisation based on sexual orientation or gender identity," a statement issued by the US embassy said.
"The United States believes that all people deserve the full range of human rights and opposes the criminalisation of sexual relations between consenting adults. The United States is watching this matter closely."
Nigeria's senate this week approved the bill, which must still be voted on by the House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The bill spells out a 14-year jail term for anyone entering into same-sex marriage or civil union.
Those who abet or aid such unions could receive 10 years, as would "any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations" -- a provision that seems to target gay advocacy groups as well.
The bill also sets out a 10-year sentence for "any person who... directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationships".
The US statement said "the freedoms of speech, assembly and association are long-standing international commitments and universally recognised."
"Nigeria, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has assumed important obligations on these matters.
We expect the government of Nigeria to act in a manner consistent with those obligations."
Copyright 2011 AFP
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Nigeria-gay-rights-crackdown-worries-US-20111202 [with comments]
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Nigerian Senate passes anti-gay Bill
Posted on 30 November 2011
Human rights groups have expressed dismay and outrage at the news that Nigeria’s Senate has voted in favour of a bill which will criminalise gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection.
It will make it illegal to register gay clubs or organisations, as well as criminalising the “public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly”.
Under the proposed law, couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
“The bill will expand Nigeria’s already draconian punishments for consensual same-sex conduct and set a precedent that would threaten all Nigerians’ rights to privacy, equality, free expression, association and to be free from discrimination,” said Erwin van der Borght, the director of Amnesty International’s Africa program.
The bill, now much more wide-ranging than its initial draft, must be passed by Nigeria’s House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan (pictured) before becoming law.
However, public opinion and lawmakers’ calls for even harsher penalties show the widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation.
“Such elements in society should be killed,” said Senator Baba-Ahmed Yusuf Datti of the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change, drawing some murmurs of support from the gallery.
Gay sex has been banned since British colonial rule in Nigeria, but religious leaders in the country have long pushed for harsher penalties for homosexuality and supporters of gay men and women.
In September, the Anglican Primate of Nigeria called gays and lesbians “evil” at the wedding of tribal royal Princess Ewere Efeizomor, telling the room that God had created women as a “helpmates” for men.
“What is being known now as gay and homosexuality is contrary to God’s plan for human sexuality and procreation,” the Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh said.
“It is against the will of God, and nobody should encourage it, and those who do will earn for themselves the damnation of the Almighty.”
Commenting on the new development, George Broadhead, secretary of UK gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust, said gays and lesbians already face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality.
“In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Sharia Law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning,” he said.
“It seems that there is a very real threat that this barbaric bill will become law and if it does, Nigeria will become the most homophobic nation in Africa.
“It is clear that the impetus for such legislation has come from religious sources.”
© 2011 Star Online
http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2011/11/30/nigerian-senate-passes-anti-gay-bill/66899 [with comments]
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Amnesty International condemns Nigeria anti-gay bill
From: Amnesty International
Last Updated: December 3, 2011, 7:00 am
Amnesty International today reiterated its call on Nigerian authorities to scrap a harsh bill that if passed into law would attack basic rights and criminalize relationships between people of the same gender.
Nigeria’s Senate passed the “Same-Gender Marriage” bill today. It will now go before the House of Representatives for approval, after which it will be sent to the President.
By broadly defining “same-sex marriage” as including all same-sex relationships, and targeting people who “witness”, “aid” or “abet” such relationships, the bill threatens the human rights of a large number of people.
“Nigeria’s House of Representatives should show leadership and uphold the rights of all in Nigeria by rejecting this reprehensible bill,” said Erwin van der Borght, director of the Africa Programme.
“If passed, this measure would target people on the basis of their identity, not merely their behaviour, and put a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions for exercising basic rights and opposing discrimination based purely on a person’s actual or presumed sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Under the bill passed by the Senate today, an individual in a same-sex relationship could face criminal penalties of up to 14 years’ imprisonment, an increase compared to the earlier draft. The bill also seeks to impose up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a stiff fine on anyone who “witnesses”, “aids” or “abets” same-sex relationships.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations previously outlined a range of concerns over the bill’s potential human rights impact.
It would place a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions, including human rights defenders and anyone else – including friends, families and colleagues – who stands up for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in Nigeria.
Individuals could face imprisonment based on nothing more than their actual or assumed sexual orientation or gender identity, or stemming from allegations about their relationship status or consensual sexual conduct.
Amnesty International also raised concerns that the bill would contravene Nigeria’s efforts to prevent HIV transmission by driving people already suffering stigma for their identity or consensual sexual behaviour still further underground.
“This bill would have a chilling effect on a range of civil society organizations and events while inciting hatred and violence against anyone suspected of practicing same-sex relationships, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,” said Erwin van der Borght.
“By aiming to single out and deprive the rights of one group of people, this bill threatens all Nigerians by violating the country’s Constitution and international human rights obligations.”
© Copyright 2011 Myjoyonline.com
http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/nigeria/201112/77476.php [comments at http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/nigeria/201112/77476.php?storyid=77476 ]
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Amnesty Condemns Anti-Gay Nigerian Bill as Human Rights Group Launches Urgent Appeal to International Community
12/01/2011
http://www.towleroad.com/2011/12/nigeria3.html [with comments]
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Nigeria Criminalizes Gay
by Rayne Millaray
Published: November 30, 2011
If you're caught being gay, supporting gay rights, hanging out with gays ... go to jail.
Folks: if you're gay and you're married, you should probably avoid Nigeria for a while. Or at least keep your sexual persuasion under wraps. Nigeria's just passed a law making your sexual persuasion (and witnessing, aiding or abetting your sexual persuasion) illegal.
We'd cover it like the rest of the media, saying the law is to ban same-sex marriage and gay clubs, but the fact of the matter is the law reaches much further than that.
Did you get married while overseas, and now you're headed home? You might want to have someone ship your belongings to you. Not only won't you be able to reap the benefits of your union, but you could be arrested. Belong to an association for LGBT folks? You're a criminal in Nigeria, and you're facing up to fourteen years in jail. Attended a civil union ceremony for your lesbian buds? You could get ten years.
Yeah, you read that right. Fourteen years in jail for being with the person you love, and ten for witnessing your gay friends celebrating their love. Suddenly the laws in the U.S. don't seem all that bad.
Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s director of the Africa Program, said in an e-mailed statement that the new law “would target people on the basis of their identity, not merely their behavior, and put a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions for exercising basic rights and opposing discrimination based purely on a person’s actual or presumed sexual orientation or gender identity.”
To say the least. Nigeria's on one hell of a witch hunt.
Copyright 2011 Sexis
http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex-and-society/nigeria-criminalizes-gay-everything-1130116/
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'Why Nigeria's anti-gay bill sickens me'
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries and can result in punishments of monetary fines or jail time.
By Chude Jideonwo,
Special to CNN
December 2, 2011 -- Updated 1707 GMT (0107 HKT)
Editor's note: Chude Jideonwo has worked as a journalist on TV, radio and print for 11 years. He was an Editor and Member of the Editorial Board at NEXT Newspapers. He's also Managing Director of Red Media group.
He writes about a recently-passed bill in the Nigerian senate outlawing same sex marriage.
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- It is important to first understand that no gay Nigerian, as far as anyone knows, is seeking marriage -- in Nigeria.
You can comb the breadth of our decidedly homophobic media ("Homosexuals are in trouble!" crowed The Sun Newspapers, no doubt mirroring the excitement of its upright editorial board), and there is neither anecdotal nor empirical evidence of a clamor, even a quiet one, for gays to be married in churches, mosques or courts.
Still, our legislators were hard at work over a considerable number of weeks while the rest of sane Nigeria, in a state of suspended disbelief, ignored them; convinced that, in a country with pressing issues such as fuel subsidy removal and debilitating insecurity, this frivolous legislation would not see light of day.
Until yesterday when, of course, it did.
Our elected representatives in the Senate, armed with their version of our National Moral Code, took time off urgent national issues to tackle the even more urgent evil of gay marriages. Before we could catch our breaths, our over-paid and under-worked Senators had legalized homophobia.
According to the law, not only is gay marriage a crime punishable by a 14-year jail term, but "any person who registers operates or participates in gay... organizations" faces a decade in jail -- a clause that specifically targets the many active sexuality rights advocacy groups in the country.
By the time the House of Representatives adds its predictable voice to this and the President signs it into law, writing this kind of piece might even risk jail time.
It is important to note though that I and other aware young people who might sometimes be misidentified as the elite, may spend precious hours in vocal incredulity on Twitter and Facebook; shouting down a law that we can hardly do anything about - but we are sadly in the minority, at least for now.
You see, in Nigeria, homophobia is alive and well.
Nigerian senate passes anti-gay bill, defying British aid threat
Barely 10 days ago, the influential Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji, shared what was supposed to be a touching story about a young man, Rashidi Williams, who had faced physical abuse for his sexuality. The comments that followed made my heart sink -- more threats of violence and death. And it wasn't a fringe minority; this is a thriving majority.
Many Nigerians are convinced that homosexuality is "of the devil", against our "culture" and an encroachment of "sad Western values.".A young man recently tweeted that "homosexuality is the cause of the present rot in America."
What rot? America's thriving Silicon Valley? A democracy it should be proud of? Or the millions of dollars in aid that its government and people have invested in treating everything from malaria to HIV in our dear country? That's forgetting that the real giant of Africa, South Africa, is the continent's bastion of sexuality rights.
"Our values are our values," the pompous senate president David Mark replies to critics of the bill.
Nonsense he can get away with, only because a large segment of our educated population is unaware that animals have been found to be gay.
Dead cliches like "God did not make Adam and Steve" continue to get excited choruses from sedated congregations and people still declare with ignorance that "homosexuality is not a part of our culture", conveniently skimming over historical evidence of the practice in the East and North of the country; and blissfully unaware that the origins of homophobia in our societies can only be traced to the influx of foreign religions.
Uganda's parliament takes no action on anti-gay bill
Indeed, you have to weep for a people that decry "foreign imperialism" on one hand, and then ignorantly hide under the cover of colonial influences to perpetuate intolerance.
It's the same country whose ex-president recently paid a 'courtesy visit' to appease confessed terrorists; the same country where four men who savagely raped a girl and recorded it on video were defended by a police chief as "dealing with snobbish girls." Indeed, what else can one expect from a Senate that houses a member who defiled and took for a wife, a girl barely in her teens only last year?
But gays -- who only pray for the right to be left alone since they do the rest of us no harm - are the mortal threat to our "moral fabric". They severely threaten the moral fabric of a nation which finds its place in the bottom of corruption rankings years in a row thanks to politicians like Mark who have sodomized the populace for decades now.
Today, I am ashamed to be Nigerian.
But it's not because a gang of morally questionable legislators has forced through a piece of legislation that is both irrelevant and irresponsible.
It's rather because, in a country burdened by a lethal mix of misplaced priorities, confused sense of culture and an ignorant electorate, this intolerance is in fact a popular decision.
We have allowed the politicians to fool us once again.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Chude Jideonwo.
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/01/world/africa/nigeria-anti-gay-bill/
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As HIV epidemic grows, Florida city grapples with fear and denial
Wade Price, who is gay and living with AIDS, has struggled to find acceptance.
This photo from our interactive data map shows the prevalence of AIDS diagnoses in 2006.
[ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/ ]
By Madison Park, CNN
updated 11:28 AM EST, Tue November 29, 2011
Editor's note: This week, CNN Health's team is taking a close look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Southeast with a series leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1. Learn more about the problem and our upcoming stories here [ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/ ].
Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) -- When the topic of HIV/AIDS enters a conversation, Earl Thompson hears that it's "just what gays get."
"It's not a gay disease," said Thompson. "It's a human disease."
When a person gets a disease like cancer, support pours in, said Thompson, a slender 27-year-old with a boyish face. Family and friends fund raise and make sure their loved one gets proper care. But that's not the case with HIV.
"It's like hush-hush," said Thompson, a Jacksonville native, who learned before his birthday in April that he has HIV. "You feel unlovable. You feel tainted. They're going to point a finger at me and be judging me.
"Just from the community, I know they don't talk about it. Jacksonville has many years before we're close to Miami, Orlando or Tampa. If something goes wrong, you don't talk about it."
It's a problem all across the Bible Belt. The Southeast is disproportionately struck with higher HIV/AIDS rates than much of the rest of the country.
Earl Thompson said HIV/AIDS is kept "hush-hush."
Dealing with the epidemic in the South "is extremely challenging, because the stigma and discrimination is worse," said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is less discourse around prevention, sexual health, comprehensive sex education in schools or having strong, community-based advocacy activities."
Jacksonville has the fifth-highest number of AIDS diagnoses among U.S. cities, according to CDC statistics from 2008.
The state says this could have been a statistical aberration because surveillance methods and HIV/AIDS reporting laws changed in Florida in 2007, causing fluctuations in the data.
But local HIV advocates in northeast Florida say the problem is a real one, not just a statistical blip.
"Here in Jacksonville, we're kind of the buckle in the Bible belt," said Donna Fuchs, executive director of Northeast Florida AIDS Network. "HIV carries a huge stigma in our city."
Fuchs said the organization had trouble finding office space in 2000. One property owner refused to rent to the group, saying he didn't want people with AIDS in his buildings.
Today, the office sits on a quiet, tree-lined street with a simple sign that reads: NFAN. A red ribbon, the ubiquitous sign for HIV/AIDS, usually adorns the logo for the organization. But not here.
"Clients didn't want a red ribbon on the door," said Fuchs. "We had to take it down."
Donna Fuchs had trouble finding an office that would rent out to the HIV/AIDS group.
Four blocks away, there is another HIV organization -- one named for NBA star Magic Johnson, who revealed in 1991 that he is HIV-positive.
When that clinic opened a decade ago, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held inside the lobby. Organizers moved the event indoors because people feared being seen and associated with the disease.
Today, that one-story clinic tucked behind a towering magnolia tree no longer bears Johnson's name.
"The only way we can get people to come through the front door is to create a fictitious name." said Todd Reese, associate director of Health Care Center operations at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "No one walks into any building or floor that has any association with HIV."
Although visible HIV signs may be scrubbed from public view, the epidemic has worsened.
HIV cases in Duval County, which mostly consists of Jacksonville, increased by 33% in the first half of 2011. This year, the county Health Department reports an increase in new cases.
"It's really not acceptable," said Dr. Bob Harmon, the county's Health Department director. "This disease is ruining lives, and it's still killing people, especially low-income people who don't get tested enough and who don't get treated early."
Several HIV/AIDS advocates in Jacksonville criticized sex education in schools that emphasized abstinence. The mentality is that HIV/AIDS is not an issue here, several advocates said.
"Denial is the biggest problem," said Reese.
And those who reveal their HIV status struggle to find acceptance.
Thompson observed that some people who knew about his HIV status avoided physical contact with him. In social settings, they watched their drinks to make sure their glasses didn't get mixed up.
"Sometimes you feel like a pin cushion, like you're never going to find acceptance," Thompson said. "You feel like you're going to be looked at as a disease, not as a person."
What perpetuates the epidemic is a social issue, Reese said.
In Florida, the HIV/AIDS focus has historically been placed in southern part of the state. Some of the earliest HIV cases were found in Miami and in the Haitian immigrant population in South Florida. Miami still struggles with new HIV/AIDS cases; often, it has the highest AIDS rates in the country.
"You can go to Miami and you can put up a billboard, you can talk about condoms, AIDS and sex," Reese said. "You can't do that in Jacksonville. People will be offended. They don't want to talk about it or see it. They don't want to see billboards about it."
And Jacksonville is no small town: It has about 821,000 residents.
It's a different population, said Harmon.
Wade Price said the virus has been ignored.
"In north Florida, our population profile is more like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi than it is central and south Florida. That generally means higher rates of poverty, lower rates of completing high school and college, and higher percentage of African-American population."
Duval County has a high percentage of African-Americans, and in Jacksonville, 71% of the total HIV cases are African-Americans.
Wade Price, 46, is a black gay man, proud father of three and grandfather of three.
He keeps a half-dozen orange prescription bottles of anti-HIV medications on his nightstand next to his red leather-bound Bible. The pages of his well-worn Bible are patchworks of green and orange highlights. He reads scriptures every night and attends a Baptist church twice a week.
Because his faith is crucial, Price decided to tell the head minister of his church how he struggled with being gay. He wanted to have prayer meetings with ministers and start a church support group.
Price told the minister: "I'm not the only one. Lots of people are keeping quiet, living double lives."
The minister rebuffed him, saying, "Wow, it's times like this, I don't like being a minister."
"That's one aspect of black churches," Price said. "They want to turn blind eyes to it. ... I'm fighting this battle on my own."
Price left that church and found another one last month that is more accepting.
"We pretend it's not happening," Price said. "The virus is being spread. You want to pretend like sex isn't happening. They say, 'Condoms, oh, no! That's not for God!' What's not for God is living with ignorance."
The social climate in northern Florida tends to be more conservative, said Harmon.
Veronica Hicks said things are changing and that more people are paying attention to HIV/AIDS in her community.
"There may be a reluctance to talk about this in the family, in the church, in other social settings and to perhaps ignore it," he said.
But there are signs of change. Churches in the community have started to talk about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, said Veronica Hicks, 50.
Hicks has never felt the need to hide her AIDS diagnosis and told her fellow church members and her pastor.
"They embrace me with it," she said. And Hicks's church has already started an HIV/AIDS testing and awareness ministry in Jacksonville.
While stigma persists in the community, it's getting better, she said.
She reported seeing growing HIV support groups, increasing turnout at community HIV/AIDS events and a recent line of people waiting to get tested at a mobile clinic.
"It shows me that people are willing to become more educated because HIV is prevalent and relevant."
*
HIV/AIDS in the Southeast
Why it's a problem here
Patrick Packer, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition, describes the HIV epidemic as the "perfect storm."
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/
Pieces of Crystal: HIV on the street
updated 7:03 AM EST, Wed November 30, 2011
An addict her story tells of going from a life with "everything I needed" as a youth to drugs, homelessness and HIV.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/30/health/conditions/crystal-hiv-aids-atlanta/index.html
Pastor fights HIV stigma in rural town
updated 10:42 AM EST, Mon November 28, 2011
Brenda Byrth deals with fear, poor education and a lack of funding in her fight against AIDS in a small South Carolina community.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/health/hiv-aids-southeast-rural-south-carolina/index.html
Prevalent U.S. health problems
How does your county's health measure up against others? Select a health issue from the menu to see the most recent data available.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/11/health/health.map/index.html
HIV out of control for most patients
Three out of four people with HIV in the U.S. do not have their infection under control with the proper medication, the CDC says.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/29/hiv-out-of-control-in-most-u-s-patients/
30 years of AIDs moments
Thirty years ago, the CDC published its first mention of the HIV virus. See the people and events who will forever live in our memories.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/25/aids.timeline/index.html
iReport: Tell us your story
Has AIDS and HIV touched your life or that of someone you know? Have you been inspired to take action in some way?
http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/709156
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© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/29/health/jacksonville-hiv-florida/index.html [with comments]
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Nigeria: Gay Rights My Foot!
Willie-Nwobu
OPINION
Leadership (Abuja)
30 November 2011
At the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGHM) held in Australia, one glaring issue that made so much furore particularly in Africa, Nigeria especially, was not the main issue of discourse. The British Prime Minister, sitting on Moses' seat as a 'premier aid-giver' in the world, didn't even have a tinge of decency when he declared that Britain would cut aids and grants to countries who, according to him, were infringing on the rights of the people's association and interaction, which in this case was the practice of same-sex carnal relationships. Even before the smoke of the British salvo cleared, many African countries including Ghana and Malawi called their bluff, telling them to take a jump in the ocean with their rotten aid.
On cue, the National Assembly moved to pass a bill outlawing homosexuality and lesbianism, making it an offence punishable by a three-year experience behind bars, amidst the whinings and murmurings of a shameless few who, after allowing their souls to be devoured by this malicious demon of perversion of nature's course, also allowed themselves to be enticed with the dangly carrots of foreign sponsorship. In the words of delectable Miss Obihu, a lesbian, people shouldn't be ostracised for what was apparently not their making, stressing that there was an innate gene in their make-up that gave occasion to such pernicious amorous tendencies. While she tried, with the best of the panache of medical dexterity to smokescreen a colossal wrong, the truth remains that the practice of homosexuality is a deliberate and well thought-out contrivance of a devilishly curious mind that seeks to pervert nature, disrespect God's order for procreation, and doom himself, whether in Nigeria, Britain, Ghana, United States or anywhere in the world for that matter.
The level of acceptance which this gay practice has garnered in the West is remarkable, and quite reminiscent of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah era. It is on record that a simple expression of opinion contrary to the general norm could earn you a termination of appointment in Britain . It is regarded as civilisation to do as much as you can to accommodate homosexuals and lesbians, commending them for their sexual boldness, and generally giving them support. The mayor of London, Mr. Boris Johnson, was severely criticised by gay rights campaigners for accepting an invitation to a carol service by a black pastor, Mr. Agu Irukwu, who is notorious all over London for his unfeigned loath for homosexuals, according to Metro (a daily newspaper in the UK) dated October 31, 2011.
The reaction of most Nigerians and indeed Africans to this attempt to cut our economic life-flow, thereby boxing us into a corner according to their whims, has been one of utmost disappointment at the slow pace of our economic maturity over the years. Recently there was a significant plummet in the value of the Euro currency in the world market, and it required a major bailout by China , already a major holder of EFSF bonds. They have been developing cold feet to the EU's request of a bailout bond of over 60 billion pounds, saying they would not be the saviours of Europe , nor provide a cure for the European malaise.
This goes to show the all-importance of economic independence of a nation. In fact, it is key to the existence of a nation, and very integral to its essence among the committee of nations. Libya was able to withstand the pressures of sanctions from the West because apart from the known vast expanse of oil wealth, Gaddafi was able to make Libya an economic colossus, being economically self-sufficient in every sense of the word. Thus, the threat of excommunication from these world bodies meant little or nothing to him. But in countries termed as 'developing' in Africa , it is still a case of the slave eating from the crumbs that fell from the master's table, like the Biblical Lazarus. A more concise look at that portion of scripture shows that it was his desire to be in that position of servitude. Like wise in Nigeria , and Africa generally, we have decided to pretend not to notice our demeaned and debased political and economic stance, hence these obnoxious pointers to our status masked as threats. I can imagine any country in Europe championing human rights causes by threatening to cut aid to China . The fact remains that whether China supports same-sex relationships or not, it has nothing to do with the fact that it is more or less a far-fetched impossibility.
It is clearer than glaring where underdeveloped Nigeria , and indeed Africa stands in the face of all this: we are practically eating out of the palms of a neo-colonialistic West. With committed, purposeful and direction-oriented leadership, coming out of the mire of economic doldrums and climbing the rungs of a realistic independence is as easy as slicing a hot knife through bread. Let us assiduously plug all the loopholes that leak out our financial and economic strength.
Gay practices, lesbianism, adultery, abortion are all evil. People who are in it and part of it, should change, repent and renovate their debased and demented life as God is daily angry at the wicked.
--Nwobu is an associate of Promise Ikemefuna and Partners; email: ikewillienwobu@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 Leadership
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112010518.html [with comment]
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http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66387972 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=68709494 and preceding and following
from earlier this string, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69318727 and preceding and following
AFP
2011-12-02 22:37
Lagos - The United States expressed concern on Friday over legislation in Nigeria that seeks to outlaw gay marriage and organisations as well as ban public displays of affection between homosexual couples.
"The United States is concerned about reports of legislation in Nigeria that would restrict expression, assembly or organisation based on sexual orientation or gender identity," a statement issued by the US embassy said.
"The United States believes that all people deserve the full range of human rights and opposes the criminalisation of sexual relations between consenting adults. The United States is watching this matter closely."
Nigeria's senate this week approved the bill, which must still be voted on by the House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The bill spells out a 14-year jail term for anyone entering into same-sex marriage or civil union.
Those who abet or aid such unions could receive 10 years, as would "any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations" -- a provision that seems to target gay advocacy groups as well.
The bill also sets out a 10-year sentence for "any person who... directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationships".
The US statement said "the freedoms of speech, assembly and association are long-standing international commitments and universally recognised."
"Nigeria, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has assumed important obligations on these matters.
We expect the government of Nigeria to act in a manner consistent with those obligations."
Copyright 2011 AFP
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Nigeria-gay-rights-crackdown-worries-US-20111202 [with comments]
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Nigerian Senate passes anti-gay Bill
Posted on 30 November 2011
Human rights groups have expressed dismay and outrage at the news that Nigeria’s Senate has voted in favour of a bill which will criminalise gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection.
It will make it illegal to register gay clubs or organisations, as well as criminalising the “public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly”.
Under the proposed law, couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
“The bill will expand Nigeria’s already draconian punishments for consensual same-sex conduct and set a precedent that would threaten all Nigerians’ rights to privacy, equality, free expression, association and to be free from discrimination,” said Erwin van der Borght, the director of Amnesty International’s Africa program.
The bill, now much more wide-ranging than its initial draft, must be passed by Nigeria’s House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan (pictured) before becoming law.
However, public opinion and lawmakers’ calls for even harsher penalties show the widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation.
“Such elements in society should be killed,” said Senator Baba-Ahmed Yusuf Datti of the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change, drawing some murmurs of support from the gallery.
Gay sex has been banned since British colonial rule in Nigeria, but religious leaders in the country have long pushed for harsher penalties for homosexuality and supporters of gay men and women.
In September, the Anglican Primate of Nigeria called gays and lesbians “evil” at the wedding of tribal royal Princess Ewere Efeizomor, telling the room that God had created women as a “helpmates” for men.
“What is being known now as gay and homosexuality is contrary to God’s plan for human sexuality and procreation,” the Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh said.
“It is against the will of God, and nobody should encourage it, and those who do will earn for themselves the damnation of the Almighty.”
Commenting on the new development, George Broadhead, secretary of UK gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust, said gays and lesbians already face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality.
“In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Sharia Law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning,” he said.
“It seems that there is a very real threat that this barbaric bill will become law and if it does, Nigeria will become the most homophobic nation in Africa.
“It is clear that the impetus for such legislation has come from religious sources.”
© 2011 Star Online
http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2011/11/30/nigerian-senate-passes-anti-gay-bill/66899 [with comments]
===
Amnesty International condemns Nigeria anti-gay bill
From: Amnesty International
Last Updated: December 3, 2011, 7:00 am
Amnesty International today reiterated its call on Nigerian authorities to scrap a harsh bill that if passed into law would attack basic rights and criminalize relationships between people of the same gender.
Nigeria’s Senate passed the “Same-Gender Marriage” bill today. It will now go before the House of Representatives for approval, after which it will be sent to the President.
By broadly defining “same-sex marriage” as including all same-sex relationships, and targeting people who “witness”, “aid” or “abet” such relationships, the bill threatens the human rights of a large number of people.
“Nigeria’s House of Representatives should show leadership and uphold the rights of all in Nigeria by rejecting this reprehensible bill,” said Erwin van der Borght, director of the Africa Programme.
“If passed, this measure would target people on the basis of their identity, not merely their behaviour, and put a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions for exercising basic rights and opposing discrimination based purely on a person’s actual or presumed sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Under the bill passed by the Senate today, an individual in a same-sex relationship could face criminal penalties of up to 14 years’ imprisonment, an increase compared to the earlier draft. The bill also seeks to impose up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a stiff fine on anyone who “witnesses”, “aids” or “abets” same-sex relationships.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations previously outlined a range of concerns over the bill’s potential human rights impact.
It would place a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions, including human rights defenders and anyone else – including friends, families and colleagues – who stands up for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in Nigeria.
Individuals could face imprisonment based on nothing more than their actual or assumed sexual orientation or gender identity, or stemming from allegations about their relationship status or consensual sexual conduct.
Amnesty International also raised concerns that the bill would contravene Nigeria’s efforts to prevent HIV transmission by driving people already suffering stigma for their identity or consensual sexual behaviour still further underground.
“This bill would have a chilling effect on a range of civil society organizations and events while inciting hatred and violence against anyone suspected of practicing same-sex relationships, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,” said Erwin van der Borght.
“By aiming to single out and deprive the rights of one group of people, this bill threatens all Nigerians by violating the country’s Constitution and international human rights obligations.”
© Copyright 2011 Myjoyonline.com
http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/nigeria/201112/77476.php [comments at http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/nigeria/201112/77476.php?storyid=77476 ]
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Amnesty Condemns Anti-Gay Nigerian Bill as Human Rights Group Launches Urgent Appeal to International Community
12/01/2011
http://www.towleroad.com/2011/12/nigeria3.html [with comments]
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Nigeria Criminalizes Gay
by Rayne Millaray
Published: November 30, 2011
If you're caught being gay, supporting gay rights, hanging out with gays ... go to jail.
Folks: if you're gay and you're married, you should probably avoid Nigeria for a while. Or at least keep your sexual persuasion under wraps. Nigeria's just passed a law making your sexual persuasion (and witnessing, aiding or abetting your sexual persuasion) illegal.
We'd cover it like the rest of the media, saying the law is to ban same-sex marriage and gay clubs, but the fact of the matter is the law reaches much further than that.
Did you get married while overseas, and now you're headed home? You might want to have someone ship your belongings to you. Not only won't you be able to reap the benefits of your union, but you could be arrested. Belong to an association for LGBT folks? You're a criminal in Nigeria, and you're facing up to fourteen years in jail. Attended a civil union ceremony for your lesbian buds? You could get ten years.
Yeah, you read that right. Fourteen years in jail for being with the person you love, and ten for witnessing your gay friends celebrating their love. Suddenly the laws in the U.S. don't seem all that bad.
Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s director of the Africa Program, said in an e-mailed statement that the new law “would target people on the basis of their identity, not merely their behavior, and put a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions for exercising basic rights and opposing discrimination based purely on a person’s actual or presumed sexual orientation or gender identity.”
To say the least. Nigeria's on one hell of a witch hunt.
Copyright 2011 Sexis
http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex-and-society/nigeria-criminalizes-gay-everything-1130116/
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'Why Nigeria's anti-gay bill sickens me'
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries and can result in punishments of monetary fines or jail time.
By Chude Jideonwo,
Special to CNN
December 2, 2011 -- Updated 1707 GMT (0107 HKT)
Editor's note: Chude Jideonwo has worked as a journalist on TV, radio and print for 11 years. He was an Editor and Member of the Editorial Board at NEXT Newspapers. He's also Managing Director of Red Media group.
He writes about a recently-passed bill in the Nigerian senate outlawing same sex marriage.
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- It is important to first understand that no gay Nigerian, as far as anyone knows, is seeking marriage -- in Nigeria.
You can comb the breadth of our decidedly homophobic media ("Homosexuals are in trouble!" crowed The Sun Newspapers, no doubt mirroring the excitement of its upright editorial board), and there is neither anecdotal nor empirical evidence of a clamor, even a quiet one, for gays to be married in churches, mosques or courts.
Still, our legislators were hard at work over a considerable number of weeks while the rest of sane Nigeria, in a state of suspended disbelief, ignored them; convinced that, in a country with pressing issues such as fuel subsidy removal and debilitating insecurity, this frivolous legislation would not see light of day.
Until yesterday when, of course, it did.
Our elected representatives in the Senate, armed with their version of our National Moral Code, took time off urgent national issues to tackle the even more urgent evil of gay marriages. Before we could catch our breaths, our over-paid and under-worked Senators had legalized homophobia.
According to the law, not only is gay marriage a crime punishable by a 14-year jail term, but "any person who registers operates or participates in gay... organizations" faces a decade in jail -- a clause that specifically targets the many active sexuality rights advocacy groups in the country.
By the time the House of Representatives adds its predictable voice to this and the President signs it into law, writing this kind of piece might even risk jail time.
It is important to note though that I and other aware young people who might sometimes be misidentified as the elite, may spend precious hours in vocal incredulity on Twitter and Facebook; shouting down a law that we can hardly do anything about - but we are sadly in the minority, at least for now.
You see, in Nigeria, homophobia is alive and well.
Nigerian senate passes anti-gay bill, defying British aid threat
Barely 10 days ago, the influential Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji, shared what was supposed to be a touching story about a young man, Rashidi Williams, who had faced physical abuse for his sexuality. The comments that followed made my heart sink -- more threats of violence and death. And it wasn't a fringe minority; this is a thriving majority.
Many Nigerians are convinced that homosexuality is "of the devil", against our "culture" and an encroachment of "sad Western values.".A young man recently tweeted that "homosexuality is the cause of the present rot in America."
What rot? America's thriving Silicon Valley? A democracy it should be proud of? Or the millions of dollars in aid that its government and people have invested in treating everything from malaria to HIV in our dear country? That's forgetting that the real giant of Africa, South Africa, is the continent's bastion of sexuality rights.
"Our values are our values," the pompous senate president David Mark replies to critics of the bill.
Nonsense he can get away with, only because a large segment of our educated population is unaware that animals have been found to be gay.
Dead cliches like "God did not make Adam and Steve" continue to get excited choruses from sedated congregations and people still declare with ignorance that "homosexuality is not a part of our culture", conveniently skimming over historical evidence of the practice in the East and North of the country; and blissfully unaware that the origins of homophobia in our societies can only be traced to the influx of foreign religions.
Uganda's parliament takes no action on anti-gay bill
Indeed, you have to weep for a people that decry "foreign imperialism" on one hand, and then ignorantly hide under the cover of colonial influences to perpetuate intolerance.
It's the same country whose ex-president recently paid a 'courtesy visit' to appease confessed terrorists; the same country where four men who savagely raped a girl and recorded it on video were defended by a police chief as "dealing with snobbish girls." Indeed, what else can one expect from a Senate that houses a member who defiled and took for a wife, a girl barely in her teens only last year?
But gays -- who only pray for the right to be left alone since they do the rest of us no harm - are the mortal threat to our "moral fabric". They severely threaten the moral fabric of a nation which finds its place in the bottom of corruption rankings years in a row thanks to politicians like Mark who have sodomized the populace for decades now.
Today, I am ashamed to be Nigerian.
But it's not because a gang of morally questionable legislators has forced through a piece of legislation that is both irrelevant and irresponsible.
It's rather because, in a country burdened by a lethal mix of misplaced priorities, confused sense of culture and an ignorant electorate, this intolerance is in fact a popular decision.
We have allowed the politicians to fool us once again.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Chude Jideonwo.
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/01/world/africa/nigeria-anti-gay-bill/
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As HIV epidemic grows, Florida city grapples with fear and denial
Wade Price, who is gay and living with AIDS, has struggled to find acceptance.
This photo from our interactive data map shows the prevalence of AIDS diagnoses in 2006.
[ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/ ]
By Madison Park, CNN
updated 11:28 AM EST, Tue November 29, 2011
Editor's note: This week, CNN Health's team is taking a close look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Southeast with a series leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1. Learn more about the problem and our upcoming stories here [ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/ ].
Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) -- When the topic of HIV/AIDS enters a conversation, Earl Thompson hears that it's "just what gays get."
"It's not a gay disease," said Thompson. "It's a human disease."
When a person gets a disease like cancer, support pours in, said Thompson, a slender 27-year-old with a boyish face. Family and friends fund raise and make sure their loved one gets proper care. But that's not the case with HIV.
"It's like hush-hush," said Thompson, a Jacksonville native, who learned before his birthday in April that he has HIV. "You feel unlovable. You feel tainted. They're going to point a finger at me and be judging me.
"Just from the community, I know they don't talk about it. Jacksonville has many years before we're close to Miami, Orlando or Tampa. If something goes wrong, you don't talk about it."
It's a problem all across the Bible Belt. The Southeast is disproportionately struck with higher HIV/AIDS rates than much of the rest of the country.
Earl Thompson said HIV/AIDS is kept "hush-hush."
Dealing with the epidemic in the South "is extremely challenging, because the stigma and discrimination is worse," said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is less discourse around prevention, sexual health, comprehensive sex education in schools or having strong, community-based advocacy activities."
Jacksonville has the fifth-highest number of AIDS diagnoses among U.S. cities, according to CDC statistics from 2008.
The state says this could have been a statistical aberration because surveillance methods and HIV/AIDS reporting laws changed in Florida in 2007, causing fluctuations in the data.
But local HIV advocates in northeast Florida say the problem is a real one, not just a statistical blip.
"Here in Jacksonville, we're kind of the buckle in the Bible belt," said Donna Fuchs, executive director of Northeast Florida AIDS Network. "HIV carries a huge stigma in our city."
Fuchs said the organization had trouble finding office space in 2000. One property owner refused to rent to the group, saying he didn't want people with AIDS in his buildings.
Today, the office sits on a quiet, tree-lined street with a simple sign that reads: NFAN. A red ribbon, the ubiquitous sign for HIV/AIDS, usually adorns the logo for the organization. But not here.
"Clients didn't want a red ribbon on the door," said Fuchs. "We had to take it down."
Donna Fuchs had trouble finding an office that would rent out to the HIV/AIDS group.
Four blocks away, there is another HIV organization -- one named for NBA star Magic Johnson, who revealed in 1991 that he is HIV-positive.
When that clinic opened a decade ago, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held inside the lobby. Organizers moved the event indoors because people feared being seen and associated with the disease.
Today, that one-story clinic tucked behind a towering magnolia tree no longer bears Johnson's name.
"The only way we can get people to come through the front door is to create a fictitious name." said Todd Reese, associate director of Health Care Center operations at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "No one walks into any building or floor that has any association with HIV."
Although visible HIV signs may be scrubbed from public view, the epidemic has worsened.
HIV cases in Duval County, which mostly consists of Jacksonville, increased by 33% in the first half of 2011. This year, the county Health Department reports an increase in new cases.
"It's really not acceptable," said Dr. Bob Harmon, the county's Health Department director. "This disease is ruining lives, and it's still killing people, especially low-income people who don't get tested enough and who don't get treated early."
Several HIV/AIDS advocates in Jacksonville criticized sex education in schools that emphasized abstinence. The mentality is that HIV/AIDS is not an issue here, several advocates said.
"Denial is the biggest problem," said Reese.
And those who reveal their HIV status struggle to find acceptance.
Thompson observed that some people who knew about his HIV status avoided physical contact with him. In social settings, they watched their drinks to make sure their glasses didn't get mixed up.
"Sometimes you feel like a pin cushion, like you're never going to find acceptance," Thompson said. "You feel like you're going to be looked at as a disease, not as a person."
What perpetuates the epidemic is a social issue, Reese said.
In Florida, the HIV/AIDS focus has historically been placed in southern part of the state. Some of the earliest HIV cases were found in Miami and in the Haitian immigrant population in South Florida. Miami still struggles with new HIV/AIDS cases; often, it has the highest AIDS rates in the country.
"You can go to Miami and you can put up a billboard, you can talk about condoms, AIDS and sex," Reese said. "You can't do that in Jacksonville. People will be offended. They don't want to talk about it or see it. They don't want to see billboards about it."
And Jacksonville is no small town: It has about 821,000 residents.
It's a different population, said Harmon.
Wade Price said the virus has been ignored.
"In north Florida, our population profile is more like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi than it is central and south Florida. That generally means higher rates of poverty, lower rates of completing high school and college, and higher percentage of African-American population."
Duval County has a high percentage of African-Americans, and in Jacksonville, 71% of the total HIV cases are African-Americans.
Wade Price, 46, is a black gay man, proud father of three and grandfather of three.
He keeps a half-dozen orange prescription bottles of anti-HIV medications on his nightstand next to his red leather-bound Bible. The pages of his well-worn Bible are patchworks of green and orange highlights. He reads scriptures every night and attends a Baptist church twice a week.
Because his faith is crucial, Price decided to tell the head minister of his church how he struggled with being gay. He wanted to have prayer meetings with ministers and start a church support group.
Price told the minister: "I'm not the only one. Lots of people are keeping quiet, living double lives."
The minister rebuffed him, saying, "Wow, it's times like this, I don't like being a minister."
"That's one aspect of black churches," Price said. "They want to turn blind eyes to it. ... I'm fighting this battle on my own."
Price left that church and found another one last month that is more accepting.
"We pretend it's not happening," Price said. "The virus is being spread. You want to pretend like sex isn't happening. They say, 'Condoms, oh, no! That's not for God!' What's not for God is living with ignorance."
The social climate in northern Florida tends to be more conservative, said Harmon.
Veronica Hicks said things are changing and that more people are paying attention to HIV/AIDS in her community.
"There may be a reluctance to talk about this in the family, in the church, in other social settings and to perhaps ignore it," he said.
But there are signs of change. Churches in the community have started to talk about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, said Veronica Hicks, 50.
Hicks has never felt the need to hide her AIDS diagnosis and told her fellow church members and her pastor.
"They embrace me with it," she said. And Hicks's church has already started an HIV/AIDS testing and awareness ministry in Jacksonville.
While stigma persists in the community, it's getting better, she said.
She reported seeing growing HIV support groups, increasing turnout at community HIV/AIDS events and a recent line of people waiting to get tested at a mobile clinic.
"It shows me that people are willing to become more educated because HIV is prevalent and relevant."
*
HIV/AIDS in the Southeast
Why it's a problem here
Patrick Packer, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition, describes the HIV epidemic as the "perfect storm."
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/27/neglecting-hivaids-in-the-southeast/
Pieces of Crystal: HIV on the street
updated 7:03 AM EST, Wed November 30, 2011
An addict her story tells of going from a life with "everything I needed" as a youth to drugs, homelessness and HIV.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/30/health/conditions/crystal-hiv-aids-atlanta/index.html
Pastor fights HIV stigma in rural town
updated 10:42 AM EST, Mon November 28, 2011
Brenda Byrth deals with fear, poor education and a lack of funding in her fight against AIDS in a small South Carolina community.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/health/hiv-aids-southeast-rural-south-carolina/index.html
Prevalent U.S. health problems
How does your county's health measure up against others? Select a health issue from the menu to see the most recent data available.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/11/health/health.map/index.html
HIV out of control for most patients
Three out of four people with HIV in the U.S. do not have their infection under control with the proper medication, the CDC says.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/29/hiv-out-of-control-in-most-u-s-patients/
30 years of AIDs moments
Thirty years ago, the CDC published its first mention of the HIV virus. See the people and events who will forever live in our memories.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/25/aids.timeline/index.html
iReport: Tell us your story
Has AIDS and HIV touched your life or that of someone you know? Have you been inspired to take action in some way?
http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/709156
*
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/29/health/jacksonville-hiv-florida/index.html [with comments]
===
Nigeria: Gay Rights My Foot!
Willie-Nwobu
OPINION
Leadership (Abuja)
30 November 2011
At the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGHM) held in Australia, one glaring issue that made so much furore particularly in Africa, Nigeria especially, was not the main issue of discourse. The British Prime Minister, sitting on Moses' seat as a 'premier aid-giver' in the world, didn't even have a tinge of decency when he declared that Britain would cut aids and grants to countries who, according to him, were infringing on the rights of the people's association and interaction, which in this case was the practice of same-sex carnal relationships. Even before the smoke of the British salvo cleared, many African countries including Ghana and Malawi called their bluff, telling them to take a jump in the ocean with their rotten aid.
On cue, the National Assembly moved to pass a bill outlawing homosexuality and lesbianism, making it an offence punishable by a three-year experience behind bars, amidst the whinings and murmurings of a shameless few who, after allowing their souls to be devoured by this malicious demon of perversion of nature's course, also allowed themselves to be enticed with the dangly carrots of foreign sponsorship. In the words of delectable Miss Obihu, a lesbian, people shouldn't be ostracised for what was apparently not their making, stressing that there was an innate gene in their make-up that gave occasion to such pernicious amorous tendencies. While she tried, with the best of the panache of medical dexterity to smokescreen a colossal wrong, the truth remains that the practice of homosexuality is a deliberate and well thought-out contrivance of a devilishly curious mind that seeks to pervert nature, disrespect God's order for procreation, and doom himself, whether in Nigeria, Britain, Ghana, United States or anywhere in the world for that matter.
The level of acceptance which this gay practice has garnered in the West is remarkable, and quite reminiscent of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah era. It is on record that a simple expression of opinion contrary to the general norm could earn you a termination of appointment in Britain . It is regarded as civilisation to do as much as you can to accommodate homosexuals and lesbians, commending them for their sexual boldness, and generally giving them support. The mayor of London, Mr. Boris Johnson, was severely criticised by gay rights campaigners for accepting an invitation to a carol service by a black pastor, Mr. Agu Irukwu, who is notorious all over London for his unfeigned loath for homosexuals, according to Metro (a daily newspaper in the UK) dated October 31, 2011.
The reaction of most Nigerians and indeed Africans to this attempt to cut our economic life-flow, thereby boxing us into a corner according to their whims, has been one of utmost disappointment at the slow pace of our economic maturity over the years. Recently there was a significant plummet in the value of the Euro currency in the world market, and it required a major bailout by China , already a major holder of EFSF bonds. They have been developing cold feet to the EU's request of a bailout bond of over 60 billion pounds, saying they would not be the saviours of Europe , nor provide a cure for the European malaise.
This goes to show the all-importance of economic independence of a nation. In fact, it is key to the existence of a nation, and very integral to its essence among the committee of nations. Libya was able to withstand the pressures of sanctions from the West because apart from the known vast expanse of oil wealth, Gaddafi was able to make Libya an economic colossus, being economically self-sufficient in every sense of the word. Thus, the threat of excommunication from these world bodies meant little or nothing to him. But in countries termed as 'developing' in Africa , it is still a case of the slave eating from the crumbs that fell from the master's table, like the Biblical Lazarus. A more concise look at that portion of scripture shows that it was his desire to be in that position of servitude. Like wise in Nigeria , and Africa generally, we have decided to pretend not to notice our demeaned and debased political and economic stance, hence these obnoxious pointers to our status masked as threats. I can imagine any country in Europe championing human rights causes by threatening to cut aid to China . The fact remains that whether China supports same-sex relationships or not, it has nothing to do with the fact that it is more or less a far-fetched impossibility.
It is clearer than glaring where underdeveloped Nigeria , and indeed Africa stands in the face of all this: we are practically eating out of the palms of a neo-colonialistic West. With committed, purposeful and direction-oriented leadership, coming out of the mire of economic doldrums and climbing the rungs of a realistic independence is as easy as slicing a hot knife through bread. Let us assiduously plug all the loopholes that leak out our financial and economic strength.
Gay practices, lesbianism, adultery, abortion are all evil. People who are in it and part of it, should change, repent and renovate their debased and demented life as God is daily angry at the wicked.
--Nwobu is an associate of Promise Ikemefuna and Partners; email: ikewillienwobu@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 Leadership
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112010518.html [with comment]
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