Revisiting Nigeria

And here we go again with this favorite country of mine, Nigeria. Yesterday I was slightly pointing a link to some news about the 18 guys arrested and almost lynched for cross-dressing in Bauchi, northern Nigeria, and since I'm not a national of the country (but have had some Nigerian experiences before) I'll give voice to Akin who writes a beautiful article in his blog on the issue — let's make it extensive to most fundamentalist religions, faiths and creeds, and don't forget Akinola, who seems to be heading towards the Fred Phelps direction (by the way, his latest rant says God hates Mexico too, hurricane Dean is the proof. St. Lucians, Jamaicans and other Caribbeans are just collateral casualties, as in "friendly fire").

But again an old sketch on Naija: on a BBC report apparently dated 2004 we can read that a senior football (soccer for the US readers) official in Nigeria "ordered the removal of any unacceptable players at an upcoming junior tournament. He said their behaviour was not culturally acceptable and promoted homosexuality." What was the fuss over? Hairstyles, no less.

Technorati tags: Nigeria, Religion, Homophobia, Homosexuality, God hates Mexico

American gay men don't want to marry?

Via Pink News, an analysis on a study which reports that "the proportion of American gay men calling for the right to marry their partners in a church is as low as 36 per cent".

Well, does it mean that gay Americans don't want to marry? I'd put an emphasis in the "marry their partners in a church" part of the headlines. With no further knowledge of what the average gay American male thinks and lives, it seems to me quite probable that they get so disappointed with the many and various Christian churches in their country supporting the sanctity of marriage as a Church institution, that they are giving up any hope of stepping into any kind of Temple to get married. It's not clear from the analysis made at the Pink News site whether they equate church marriage with civil marriage or the latter would be called "same-sex unions".

In 2005 Spain, the government introduced an Act allowing same-sex marriage, civil, different to that spiritual bond sacralized by religious entities, yet legally providing same rights to any kind of couple. We knew that the majoritary Catholic Church wouldn't recognize such civil marriages, but they in fact don't recognize civil marriage as religiously bonding, and nonetheless the whole Catholic Hierarchy from the Vatican to the last bishop in Spain campaigned against such a law, with demonstrations and all (some people accurately pointed out that those same bishops never happen to walk within any demonstration against Iraq war, in spite of the Pope speaking against it).

So what's the problem with churches and religious organizations and civil marriage? I beieve that, being civil marriage a thing of the justice of the peace, priests, pastors, imams and the like can't take control of it. Can we happily give religion the right to dictate our laws? We might want, but if we carefully think about it, we can end up within systems so restrictive of rights as northern Nigeria's shari'a. Some might argue that Christian churches don't ask for lapidation of homosexuals; but it might be just a matter of time.

Technorati tags: USA gay men, gay marriage, Nigeria, Christian churches, Islam, Spain, Catholic

News around the world

And just to keep a bit updated, these news:

Italian politician calls for "ethnic cleansing" of gays

The northern Italian city of Treviso has witnessed mass demonstrations after the deputy mayor called for the ethnic cleansing of homosexuals.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the city hall at the weekend demanding his resignation.

Giancarlo Gentilini, told a local television station on Wednesday: "I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of faggots."

Australians demonstrate against ban on gay marriage

Thousands of people marched yesterday in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney as part of the National Day of Action, which marked the three year anniversary of gay marriage being outlawed.

The largest of the marches was in Melbourne, where more than 5,000 people attended. All the marches were peaceful.

Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal government passed federal legislation in 2004 banning same-sex marriage.

Ban on homosexuality in Uganda "unenforceable"

Ugandan laws prohibiting homosexual activity have resulted in no arrests of couples despite people being open about their sexuality and the fact that there are more than 160 members of leading gay organisations.

According to the Monitor.co.ug, Oscar Kihika, the president of the Uganda Law Society said: "You can't just arrest someone for saying they are gay.

"That's like arresting someone just because he says he stole something, with no proof," he said.

Nigerian men could face death penalty for 'gay marriage'

18 men have been arrested at a hotel in northern Nigeria and charged with sodomy.

The men, who were detained by police on Sunday, come from different parts of Nigeria and were allegedly dressed in women's clothes. They had come together to celebrate a gay 'marriage,' according to the NAN government news agency.

The arrests took place in Bauchi city, the capital of a Muslim state in the centre of Nigeria with a population of 316,000.

Technorati tags: Nigeria, Italy, Uganda, Australia, News, LGBT

Nigerian Gay Activist's family attacked.

Via the Gay Religion blog and Gay/Lesbian News we come across an attack on a Nigerian activist family.

Gun men invaded the family house of Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude, Nigeria, in Nigeria and started shooting. They killed 20 people. The family was gathered for the swearing in ceremony for one of his brothers. He had just been appointed as Commissioner by the Rivers State Governor. His mother was shot in the leg and is still in the local hospital. His cousin Opali was killed. Davis' brother, who was the main target, managed to escape. Davis currently lives in exile after receiving repeated death threats following his vocal opposition to Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola's anti-gay statements.

Though Davis Mac-Iyalla was not the target since he's in exile, and there could be political reasons other than homophobia for such attack, be it killing a Commissioner or killing the brother of a gay activist, we regret such acts of terror.

Technorati tags: Nigeria, Davis Mac-Iyalla, Hate crimes

What's the current weight of the UK in the Commonwealth?

Last Tuesday, Pink News had a number of questions (reader submitted) thrown at PM Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom. The full interview can be read here. Anyway I'd remark one of the answers given by Brown, in regards to him having

announced an international strategy to promote (LGBT) rights overseas, which includes Britain's commitment to the universal decriminalization of homosexuality...

I'm not much informed on how the Commonwealth works, though I believe that such community includes former colonial territories of the British Empire, including Canada and Australia. The logical approach for a British government willing to deal with homophobia decriminalization of homosexuality in areas such as the West Indies and West and East Africa, India and Sri Lanka (anyone knows which countries in the Commonwealth, apart of the former three, have not laws against homosexuality?) would probably imply joining Canada and Australia into a lobbying politics. But to which extent would all three, or merely a single one of those countries (and in Australia there continues to happen some differences from state to state in terms of lgbt rights) could influence the rest of nations inside the Commonwealth?

The UK couldn't do much about challenging Akinola and the rest of Nigerian power players on the bill (full text here) they were to pass (which calls for a five-year imprisonment of people who engage "performs, witnesses, aids, or abets" a same-sex marriage, also of anyone involved in advocacy for gay and lesbian rights.

So what could be expectable from PM Gordon Brown? I honestly hope that it's something more than wishful thinking.