The Tyranny of the Majority

Reading through the comments and justifications for supporting the anti-gay bill in the various media and fora in Nigeria reveals how limited, hypocritical and beclouded the mind of the average commentator on the issue is. Reasons range from the "un-Africanness" to the "irreligiosity" of homosexuality. Given the universality of the phenomenon, homosexuality is certainly more African than are the two major religions, Islam and Christianity, both of Middle Eastern origin, whose books the religious bigots use to perpetuate their ignorant hate messages.

Homosexuality is not a choice. Most people who are oriented that way were born that way. There is emerging scientific evidence that certain genetic triggers called "epigenes" are implicated while the individual is in-utero, and that the phenomenon is found in species other than human (birds, dogs, goats, dolphins, monkeys, chimpanzees etc have been documented with same-sex orientation).

The Nigerian National Assembly which has failed Nigerians in all aspects of law making and governance continues to fail in its responsibilities, and rather than preventing the tyranny of the majority chooses to foster it as a diversionary tactic in the face of more pressing and salient issues they should be tackling, such as fighting corruption, providing good roads, access to a decent health care system, security, and regulatory and legal systems that work.

Besides, homosexuality is said to be prevalent in the high echelon of society and government in Nigeria. It was one of the reasons on which the infamous and bizarre Major Okar attempted coup d’état was predicated. No doubt, there are certainly some hypocrites (closet-gays) in the NASS who lent their votes to this repressive and retrogressive bill.

Rather than disenfranchise our poor brothers and sisters who live with this burden of discrimination every day, let us all non-homosexual Nigerians rise up against this injustice and focus our government on the things that really matter in Nigeria. Homosexual relationships between consenting adults just like heterosexual relationships are strictly between the consenting parties, government has no business legislating it and laws should not be made to single it out and punish practitioners. It would serve Nigerians better if the government went after the serial pedophiles and statutory rapists who marry girls as young as 12 years old and younger all in the name of religion and tradition.

The irony is that while Nigerians like to project an image of religious piety, Nigeria is one of the most corrupt, avaricious and debauched societies in the world. The so-called men of God, pastors, imams, gurus and other charlatans condone criminals and the debauched in their congregations.  Many are active perpetrators of corruption and debauchery, yet they bleat their hypocritical holier-than-thou rhetoric to cloak their own debauchery and curry the favor of their incredibly gullible congregants.