First off, the National Assembly's passing of the bill to ban gay marriages is an act of ignorance. If there was any incident of a gay marital union, the nation would've been aware. It's not a topic that could slip pass without generating a lot of noise. The Sun newspaper has that flamboyant sentimental way of reporting, so. Still, our legislators were anxious to save us all from the pain of ever witnessing such evil. They should know that such a law was totally irrelevant. A culture grooms it's people, and defiant members, which in this case has to do with sexuality, are already paying the price of shame and living in fear. What they really beg of us is to be left in peace.
First off, the National Assembly's passing of the bill to ban gay marriages is an act of ignorance. If there was any incident of a gay marital union, the nation would've been aware. It's not a topic that could slip pass without generating a lot of noise. The Sun newspaper has that flamboyant sentimental way of reporting, so. Still, our legislators were anxious to save us all from the pain of ever witnessing such evil. They should know that such a law was totally irrelevant. A culture grooms it's people, and defiant members, which in this case has to do with sexuality, are already paying the price of shame and living in fear. What they really beg of us is to be left in peace.
What the legislators have done is to give credibility to the harassment of homosexuals, a minority of nigerian citizens they should take the responsibility of protecting. Isn't making gay marriages/relations unrecognizable by the state enough? Why go the extra mile of making it a crime? Even a petty pick pocket should be spared the horror of visiting our police stations, more so, our prisons. If they realized all these and went ahead, then it's an act of wickedness.
In their defense, it was in keeping with the culture of the people. They insist it's our culture. Certainly not the pure form of our culture, because it has assimilated so much, it's distorted. If it's an ill, one ill of globalization is that it fastens these assimilations. True, the current culture in Nigeria can't accommodate same-sex sexual relationships. Given the world's overpopulation, one
would rationally assume that homosexuality and say, celibacy, was God's solution, his alternative to productive mating. But alas, only the second can be suggested, because only the second is endorsed by religious institutions. They say God didn't create Adam and Steve. But God never created, according to the holy books, Adam, Eve, and hermaphrodites. Should we, I don't know, should we march hermaphrodites to reservation camps?
They say the human race will face extinction. Like that would ever happen; like people would begin losing their melanin if albinos are not isolated. Then you hear arguments like some fake it, some weren't born with it, some were a result of a bad upbringing. Does it matter the path one took to reach holiness? You pretend to be something long enough and it becomes you. The question is at this point in your life are you holy, a thief, a liar, a killer?
The majority, whose interest in this issue is being protected by the National Assembly think Africa is under the influence of the west. It is unafrican, you hear. Let me state that my problem with the west is their narcissistic impatience. They abolish a practice today, and start threatening other countries who haven't done the same the next day. They let hot issues of their own to naturally cool down before reaching a decision. Then they turn to policing the 'backward' nations. In my opinion, it's a kind of oppression. Still, it doesn't make human rights their baby. They just happen to be higher up the pyramid of needs and spot these types of injustice faster. You know, they've eaten, drank, lived in nice homes, saved enough money to squander, and now they have all these excesses that they give the idea of forgoing a supreme being and his earthly representatives a serious thought. By so doing, the majority of them become so free to
accommodate all sorts of social oddities within their communities without guilt.
We'll get to be more tolerant, but only in time. Right now, the majority of Nigerians are busy answering to our 'providers of hope'. And these hope providers can't stand people whose fingers don't fit perfectly in that glove called society. They manufacture all kinds of
claim, and we uncritically nod. One time at UNN, a pastor told a full auditorium that the 2004 indian ocean tsunami was God's revenge on a muslim community for driving Christians away at Christmas. He had proof. It was a power point presentation. I'd expected murmurs, an objection. These were people who normally believe the dictum, 'God is love.' I was disappointed. All around, students were fixated and nodding.
We were not always here, and we won't remain here. Except our leaders succeed in perpetuating our strife, there will come a Rosa Parks moment. It might take a whole century. There are issues that God, Nature is trying to tell us they're in charge of; that they will personally take care of; that our anxiety and disgust are appreciated but unnecessary. These are matters of morality that are so greatly divided, they are grouped into pro and anti. There are those, some elites and thinkers, who view this development as an intellectual challenge, a call to fight what they perceive as neocolonization. And they are hard at work. Others are sincerely confused. It really does get confusing, which is why it's ill advised to rush to judgment.
My last words is something I came across on the internet (don't know the author), and it's for the gays among us, it's something I would tell a past version of myself in those days. It was an oddity to profess to feminist sensitivities - 'life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.' Not that anybody won't try pulling off a Jesus.
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