Nigeria to Ban Gay Meetings

Africa's most populous country has gone even further down the road of inequality and human rights abuse.

Legislation is being considered which would make illegal any protests for gay rights as well as any organization which stands up for LGBT rights in Nigeria. These measures echo hauntingly of similar laws passed in South Africa under Apartheid, but intended to prevent anti-racism meetings.

The same legislation would also punish any man or woman who takes part in a "gay wedding". It would punish anyone to officiate said "wedding" as well. I'm not sure if this punishes mock weddings (since Nigeria obviously doesn't have marriage equality), real marriages in other countries or both. Regardless, the "offenders" would face up to five years in prison for it.

Twelve of Nigeria's northern states have already fallen under the influence of Islamic Sharia. Sharia is a brutal system of laws and punishments apparently derived from ancient Islamic scripture... Among a myriad of other "offences", Sharia punishes homosexuality with death by stoning. Over a dozen people have apparently been sentenced to death, in Nigeria, for homosexuality, but none of the alleged sentences have been carried out yet.

It's generally accepted that the African Union is a useless dog with no teeth when it comes to human rights abuses on the continent... Indeed, South Africa is one of very few African countries with a human rights record that doesn't make one want to vomit.

One always holds out some hope that South Africa will condemn these atrocities committed elsewhere on our continent, and one is always disappointed with the government's hypocrisy and human rights doublespeak.

Sometimes I really wish the Mbeki regime had some teeth in its limp foreign policy.

Link.