By Bayo Bernard
President Joe Biden’s recent warning to countries which have enacted discriminating laws against LGBTQI, that they stand to lose further financial assistance from the United States of America, USA, did not come as a surprise to many around the world who were acquainted with the administration of Barack Obama , under which the incumbent served as Vice President.
Former President Obama was a strong supporter of the rights of the LGBTQI.
According to a Presidential Memorandum issued by Biden on February 8, his administration will sanction countries that are yet to make laws to accommodate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) persons.
Biden’s memo reads: “When foreign Governments move to restrict the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, or fail to enforce legal protections in place, thereby contributing to a climate of intolerance, agencies engaged abroad shall consider appropriate responses, including using the full range of diplomatic and assistance tools and, as appropriate, financial sanctions, visa restrictions, and other actions.
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love. The United States belongs at the forefront of this struggle – speaking out and standing strong for our most dearly held values.”
The memo directed US agencies working in foreign countries to work harder to combat the criminalisation by foreign governments of LGBTQ status or conduct and directs the State Department to include anti-LGBTQ violence, discrimination, and laws in its annual human rights report.
The US president also directed all its missions abroad to increase efforts to ensure that LGBTQ asylum seekers have equal access to protection, expanded training for US federal personnel, and potential increased use of priority referrals to expedite resettlement of vulnerable people.
It also instructs federal agencies to consider appropriate responses, including the full range of diplomatic tools, and potentially financial sanctions and visa restrictions, when foreign governments restrict the rights of LGBTQ people. His government will soon be “issuing a presidential memo to agencies to reinvigorate our leadership on the LGBTQI issues and do it internationally,” President Biden said.
The US position came amidst apprehension, among Nigerians of the growing number of homosexuals in the country, and their new found boldness to assert their rights amid public discrimination against them, apart from the law criminalizing homosexuals in the country, enacted by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The problem has even become worse, as the cyber space has, in the last few years, been awash with many Nigerians openly declaring their status abroad, which analysts say could serve as impetus for those living in Nigeria. But the development is likely to result in heartbreak for many Nigerians, particularly parents who, because of their religious and social inclinations, will not readily accept the fact that their children or wards are homosexuals, the same school of thought says.
That’s the quagmire that Doyin Okupe, a former Presidential Spokesman has found himself, following the recent public announcement by his son, Bolu, that he’s gay. The 27-year-old broke the news on January 23, when he said he could no longer hide his status after attaining puberty, adding that his status needed to be brought to light, to end perception about him once and for all, particularly in a country where stigmatization has prevented many gay persons from admitting their sexuality.
According to Bolu “From the age of 10 or 11 I knew I was different, and if you speak to more people in the LGBTQ community they will tell you the same thing. It starts around pre-puberty years.We would progress more as a society if we speak more to each other and judged less.”
Bolu also tried to rationalize the religious stereotype against gay persons. He said: “With regard to homosexuality being anti-Christ, this is not incorrect, as many have pointed out to me, It is clearly forbidden in the Bible; however, I would like to also mention that there are a lot of things that are also forbidden in the Bible that many Christians partake in.”
He said he will never stop being gay because “Sexual orientation is not something that one can ‘reconsider’. This is the way I am, and it is the way I have always been and will always be. I and many others in the LGBTQ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community were born the way we are. Many may not understand this, but stop and think for a second, why would we intentionally choose this lifestyle when we know that we will be ridiculed and shamed by society?”
But for Bolu’s father, the announcement was blasphemous. While responding to his son’s “I am gay” message, Okupe said his son has chosen a life that’s not in tandem with his Christian belief. He said he would never accept his son’s new status, adding that he’s hopeful that Bolu will soon change his sexual orientation.
Okupe said “I have been aware of his new orientation for a while now. He knows that as a Christian and a witness for Christ (an evangelist), I am vehemently opposed to homosexuality as it runs contrary to the avowed precepts of my Christian faith. For me, I look beyond the surface or the physical. Here I see a major spiritual challenge ahead but I know as my God liveth, this whole saga will end up in praise to the Almighty Jehovah who I serve day and night.”
His son’s fate is now in God’s hands, Okupe who served under Jonathan when the anti-gay law was enacted said. “For it is written: Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is His ear dead that he cannot hear. Isaiah 59 vs 1.”
On January 13, 2014 former President Jonathan signed a law, the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act which criminalized and imposed severe penalties, including 14 years’ jail term for gay relationships among others.
No sooner than the law was passed, than the diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the United State suffered a hit as the President Obama administration withdrew some financial and military assistance to the country. The Government of Goodluck Jonathan even blamed the Obama administration for denying his government critical weapons and platforms to fight Boko Haram insurgency.
In fact, the former Nigerian leader said the law was one of the reasons the US failed to back his re-election bid in 2015.
The United States Government, as soon as the law was signed seven years ago, expressed its dissatisfaction through John Kerry, the Secretary of State, who said Washington was deeply concerned about the fate of gays in the country under the new law. .
“Beyond even prohibiting same sex marriage, this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly and expression for all Nigerian. It is inconsistent with Nigeria’s international legal obligations and undermines … democratic reforms and human rights protections,” Kerry said in a statement at the time.
There’s an existing law in the country which prescribed jail sentence for sodomy, but the 2014 Act imposed serious punishment for homosexual behaviors, which many say pushed many gay persons and lesbians underground while others who could not stand discrimination, fled the country, to the US and Europe where homophobic behaviors and discrimination against homosexuals are not permitted. But the homosexual controversy has been on the front burner of the nation’s politics for some time.
Last week, a lesbian in Lagos who did not want her name to be mentioned for fear of what people will say, told the magazine that she’s frustrated living in the country. According to her, she will jump at any opportunity to leave the country for other nations where her status will not be used to judge her.
Some gay persons in one of the private universities the country also told the magazine that they are hoping that the US immigration policy under President Biden will help the ‘silent’ gay community in Nigeria. They said they are prepared to seek asylum to escape persecution.
On his arrival in the UK in 2007, Bisi Alimi who was forced to flee Nigeria, said the country has become a hell for homosexual persons. Alimi had declared his status in a national television, following which he was disowned by his family, arrested and imprisoned by the police.
Alimi narrates his experience in Nigeria “We had this party that got broken into and many people got beaten up and soaked in blood. But the next week we were all back for the party, because life has got to go on. You would meet people through friends or at parties. When I left Nigeria, [the website] Gaydar was quite popular but it was very underground – people would go to an internet cafe and minimise the window if someone walked past.”
That’s about 14 years ago. But the discrimination against LGBTQ in the country still remains, yet they seem to be growing in number, those familiar with the issue have said.
Recently, a 53-year-old Nigerian gay priest in the Church of England, Jide Macaulay, said he was preparing to marry his partner who currently lives in Nigeria. Criticizing the law in Nigeria which made it impossible for him to be married to his long time gay partner, Macaulay, who is a lawyer described the 2014 Act as “a great disservice and discrimination against same-gender-loving individuals.
In 2019, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgar, was tipped off that some persons were being initiated as homosexuals in a bar. The Police boss personally led his men to the venue where 57 persons were arrested. “It is the duty of everybody, not only the police, to ensure that such antisocial behavior, such social vices, such crimes, are checked so that we can create communities that protect our children from such deviant behavior,” Edgar said of the arrest.
Uche Maduagwu, a popular Nollywood actor declared himself “proudly gay”, last month in an Instagram post, where he said homosexuals should be respected for the choice they make for themselves. He had, last year, sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, when he alleged that he has been severally abused by senior colleagues in Nollywood.
He said “Honestly, anytime I remember how I was molested and raped by a male actor on my first movie location in Lagos, I cry bitterly.” He warned upcoming actors to beware of harassment because “your butt might pay heavily for it at night in your hotel room.”
Macaulay and others, frustrated with the Nigeria’s anti-gay law, are likely to become more assertive, even as apprehension is now high in the country, that LGBTOQI will now be more demanding of their rights leveraging on the support from their counterparts from other parts of the world, particularly in the US where lobbyists have the ears of President Biden.
Some critics of Biden insist that his appointment of gay and lesbians into his administration is an indication of his plan to pursue intersectionality across the world using US vast economic and political power.
President Biden had recently appointed Jeff Marootian, the openly gay director of the D.C. Department of Transportation, as a key environmental advisor. Marootian will serve as Special Assistant to the President for Climate and Science Agency Personnel, a post under the executive Office of Presidential Personnel, which regulates and vets potential staff members who may work for the administration;.
Karine Jean-Pierre, a lesbian and former Chief of Staff to Vice President Kamala Harris has been appointed as Deputy Press Secretary; Pili Tobar, an immigration rights advocate and former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, has also been appointed Deputy White House Communications Director.
Tobar, a lesbian, also worked as a Communications Director for the Biden campaign; Carlos Elizondo, a gay and Biden’s Social Secretary when Biden was Vice President, has also been appointed White House Social Secretary.
