by Rachel Ogbu

This week, our #IssueOfTheWeek is looking at the on going debate about same sex or gay marriage, which is to be passed into law in Nigeria.

Let’s look at the pro-gay side of the debate today, led by a perception that the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill is a distracting tactic by politicians to confuse the public and divert attention from pressing socioeconomic realities.

“This bill must be understood for what it is – “The ‘Jail the Gays’ bill is an attack on not only gays and lesbians, but on straight Nigerians,” said Andre Banks, the Executive Director and co-founder of All Out, the world’s largest global LGBT organisation. “Basic freedoms like the freedom to assemble, the freedom to worship as one chooses, and the freedom to love are under attack by the Nigerian government. No one is safe from this dangerous bill — it is a distraction from real problems and must be stopped.”

The Executive Director of International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health (ICARH) Ifeanyi Orazulike stated that “The bill will further drive the populations of sexual minority targeted by civil society organizations with HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention programs underground, with grave consequences on public health.” He added that “HIV/AIDS does not respect any culture, religion, race or political opinion.”

A Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination Service, SAfAIDS research shows that sexual minorities contribute to HIV prevalence (9-25%). The violence on sexual minorities only pushes them to go into hiding where it is hard to reach them with the relevant protective messages and services. Some have gone to the extent of getting married to women while having partners secretly. This puts these families at even higher risk. As SAfAIDS we believe pushing sexual minority groups into hiding because they are afraid of being arrested is not a public good.

In 2011, David Cameron pledged to slash aid to African countries with poor records on homosexual rights. The Government has already cut aid to Malawi by £19million after two gay men were sentenced to 14 years hard labour. Malawi had received £200million from Britain over the past three years.

The Department for International Development gave £171.5million to Nigeria to help improve education there, as well as family planning and immunisation services.

This could be a welcome relief in a country where the majority of the population still earn less than £1 a day. But critics worry about how much of this money was lost to corruption.

Last year Nigeria’s Senate passed a similar anti-gay bill, but after 65,000 All Out members joined Nigeria’s fair-minded citizens by calling for an end of the bill, it did not move forward.

All Out has launched a new online campaign in coordination with Nigerian citizens who are fighting to stop the “Jail the Gays” bill once again. All Out members from around the world are supporting Nigerian citizens in calling upon Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan to veto the bill.

According to them, “105,004 people support this campaign. All Out is working closely with the following partner organisations in Nigeria:  Changing Attitude Nigeria, Improved Youth Health Initiative, Initiative for Advancement of Humanity, International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health, Sexual Minorities Against AIDS in Nigeria, The Initiative for Equal Rights, The Initiative for Improved Male Health, Nigerian LGBTIs in the Diaspora Against Anti-Same Sex Laws.”

According to Damian Ugwu, Regional Program Director of Africa, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, it is all a deception.

“Nigerians will understand this best, when their fellow compatriots, their brothers, sisters, uncles and nieces, tell it,” he said. “And this truth is that Nigerians are being taken for a long ride by legislators and their religious allies, just to make them forget, even if temporarily, their present socioeconomic predicaments.”

Hmm. What do you think?