by Staff writer
So I stumbled on this video and it got me thinking…
This happening in Nigeria?
In a public gym setting?
With lots of metal, iron bars and other dangerous objects?
Never!
***
Nigeria is the most homophobic country in the world, according to a 2013 poll, which found that 97 percent of Nigerian citizens think the society should not accept homosexuality.
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria. The maximum punishment in the twelve northern states that have adopted Shari’a law is death by stoning.
That law applies to all Muslims and to those who have voluntarily consented to application of the Shari’a courts.
In southern Nigeria and under the secular criminal laws of northern Nigeria, the maximum punishment for same-sex sexual activity is 14 years’ imprisonment.
The Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act signed into law by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan criminalises all forms of same-sex unions and same-sex marriage throughout the country.
Since the law, violent attacks and arrests of gay people have become so common that hardly a week passes without a related headline appearing in the news.
Nigerian journalist, Prince Charles Dickson, writes that homophobia is the one single factor uniting the often warring Muslim and Christian groups in Nigeria.
“In a country contentiously split among Muslims and Christians, leaders of Nigeria’s mosques and churches are united in their condemnation of same-sex relationships,” writes Dickson.
No!