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Nigerian Senate votes to punish gay marriage with 14 years in prison
by Stephen Gray | 30 November 2011, 9:46am
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/11/30/nigerian-senate-votes-to-punish-gay-marriage-with-14-years-in-prison/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Pinknews+%28Pink+News%29 (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/11/30/nigerian-senate-votes-to-punish-gay-marriage-with-14-years-in-prison/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Pinknews+%28Pink+News%29)
The Nigerian Senate has voted through a bill criminalising gay marriage, with prison sentences of up to 14 years for those couples who try to enter into an unofficial union and ten years for witnesses.
The law already punishes acts of homosexuality with 14 years' imprisonment or, in regions under Shari'a law, with a sentence of death by stoning.
The bill needs to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed off by the President, Goodluck Johnson.
This is truly awful, and I think something should be done. But I'm divided as to who should do the doing. On the one hand I feel that the international community isn't responsible for building a nation from the ground up (Nigeria's government is a total quagmire), but rather exists to foster strong ties between existing countries. On the other hand, there are people legitimately in need of help from those who hold a more stable and prosperous position, and it may be cruel and inhumane to simply disregard them and say "fix it your damned selves".
If we as an international community are to act, a simple condemnation is insufficient. Sanctions perhaps, but probably what would be more effective is a total review of Nigerians' socioeconomic conditions and relative level of education. This review would be followed by targeted action to improve both (existing actions seem more driven to obtain an economic and political edge over Nigeria than to actually improve its conditions). Radicalism like this is often born of poverty, poor living/working conditions, and little to no education. Those who are educated seem to often flee the country in pursuit of a better life in other countries, a trend which absolutely must be reversed (perhaps through economic incentives such as subsidies or tax breaks to remain in Nigeria). Active work should also be conducted to eliminate the country's ethnocentrism and religious radicalism, but the biggest contributor to continued political inefficacy (a root cause of strife, I expect) is most likely the direct involvement of criminal syndicates in the government. Drug syndicates should be actively and violently targeted, and any official bearing ties to these syndicates should be immediately censured from their post.