Humanist Jeered For Supporting Gay Rights

KENILWORTH, 19 FEBRUARY 2007 — A Nigerian humanist was repeatedly jeered during his statement opposing the proposed new anti-gay legislation in Nigeria.

Leo Igwe, the executive secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, made his statement at a public hearing to gather views from the public before a committee examines it and sends a final version to Parliament for voting.

Mr Igwe said that law should not be made to oppress people. It should be made to serve the interests of all the people.

Reacting to the outrageous statement made by an Islamic law professor who said that sometimes the minority should be destroyed in order to protect the majority, he said that that was exactly what the bill was meant to achieve and that it was unhealthy for the country and its democracy. “One of the hallmarks of a true democracy is not only upholding the will of the majority but recognising and respecting the rights of minorities.”

In response to the contention that same-sex marriage should be banned because it was alien to Nigeria, Mr Igwe replied by saying that Christianity and Islam, the Bible and Qur’an, were all alien to Nigeria and if they wanted to ban same-sex marriage they should also ban Christianity and Islam and their holy books.

When the religious groups also said that banning same-sex marriage was to protect public interest, good and morality, he said the term “public” was all-inclusive and included gay and lesbian people and therefore their interest and good should not be excluded or undermined.

However, the vast majority of those who spoke agreed with Jonathan Adamu of the Christian Lawyers’ Fellowship of Nigeria who said: “Western society is decaying, We cannot use Western society as a model for moral values. If we let a man go with a man or a woman go with a woman, the next thing will be a man with an animal.”

The secretary of the UK Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, George Broadhead, said: “We naturally warmly welcome our fellow humanist’s courageous intervention, but it is hardly surprising that he was shouted down. Nigeria is split about evenly between Christians and Muslims and the one thing they can agree on is that gay relationships are abhorrent and gay rights have no place in human rights. This being the case, it seems highly likely that this pernicious legislation will be enacted and there can be no doubt that it has been driven and fortified by religious hatred.”