New York Times: “The U.S. support is making matters worse,” said Mike, 24, a university student studying biology in Minna, a town in central Nigeria who asked that his full name not be used for his safety. “There’s more resistance now. It’s triggered people’s defense mechanism.”
America’s money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible — and more vulnerable to harassment and violence, people on both sides of the gay rights issue contend. The American campaign has stirred misgivings among many African activists, who say they must rely on the West’s support despite often disagreeing with its strategies.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, the final passage of the 2014 law against homosexuality — which makes same-sex relationships punishable by 14 years in prison and makes it a crime to organize or participate in any type of gay meeting — is widely regarded by both supporters and opponents of gay rights as a reaction to American pressure on Nigeria and other African nations to embrace gay rights.
“The Nigerian law was blowback,” said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission and the senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which supports gay rights on the continent. “You now have situations of gay men being molested on the streets or taunted. That was all avoidable.”
“I’ve said to U.S. diplomats privately as well — the risk is causing more harm than good,” Mr. Odinkalu added. “You don’t want an infusion of good will to actually do harm to the community that you think you’re protecting.”
“In the same way that we don’t try to impose our culture on anyone, we also expect that people should respect our culture in return,” said Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian active in lobbying against gay rights.
8 comments:
Is prison really the best punishment to dissuade gays from being gay?
I would think mandatory monster truck rallies would be better.
That is funny right there.
I'm not so sure that this is a (yet another) thing that can be blamed on the USA.
Is ISIS treatment of gays our fault as well?
I'm sure such activities have nothing to do with ISIS recruitment.
You have to laugh about this bullshit that Trump is being used for ISIS recruitment, but those people never seem to understand that by pushing homo marriage, there is probably nothing that pisses the Islamic warriors off more than the homo marriage issue.
The State department could tailor the gay message specifically to Africans by sending copies of "The Jeffrey Dahmer Cookbook"
ampersand said...
The State department could tailor the gay message specifically to Africans by sending copies of "The Jeffrey Dahmer Cookbook"
Fuck them then eat them. That could work for them. After all, Africa is plaqued by HIV/AIDS and not getting enough to eat. This could solve that.
Is there any third world country where gay marriage is permitted?......I saw a John Oliver show. He claimed that some Christian missionary visited an African country, preached against the evils of homosexuality, and then that country subsequently became homophobic. What crap.....I'm pretty sure that homophobia like xenophobia and sexism are basic human responses that need some amount of education and cultural indoctrination in order to be reduced and managed. Homophobia is not a western innovation. Gay marriage is.......The subliminal message here is that only white middle class people have the intelligence to act as fully cognizant moral agents.
there is probably nothing that pisses the Islamic warriors off more than the homo marriage issue.
But to understand that, you first have to understand how ISIS recruits via the Islamic religion. Claiming you understand it gets you accused of racism from people who think white hicks become racists because of Christianity.
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